Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, as signed in Rome on 29 October 2004.

Photo of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, signed in Rome on 29 October 2004.

On 29 October 2004, at the ceremonial signing of the Treaty in Rome of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister, gives an address in which he summarises the evolution of the European integration process since the signing of the Rome Treaties on 25 March 1957, emphasising the present and future implications for the European Union.

On 29 October 2004, at the ceremonial signing of the Treaty in Rome of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, Jan Peter Balkenende, Dutch Prime Minister and Acting President of the European Council, gives an address in which he expresses his satisfaction with the progress made by the European Union and with its merits.

On 29 October 2004, at the ceremonial signing in Rome of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, Bertie Ahern, Irish Prime Minister and Acting President of the Council of the European Union at the closing session of the Intergovernmental Conference in June 2006, gives an address in which he emphasises the importance of the Constitutional Treaty for the future of the European Union.

On 29 October 2004, at the ceremonial signing of the Treaty in Rome of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, Josep Borrell, President of the European Parliament, gives an address in which he emphasises the role played by the Assembly in the drafting of the text as well as the main contributions of the new Treaty by comparison with preceding Treaties.

On 29 October 2004, at the ceremonial signing of the Treaty in Rome of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, Romano Prodi, outgoing President of the European Commission, gives an address in which he expresses his satisfaction with the political and institutional advances that the text represents for the functioning of the European Union.

On 29 October 2004, at the ceremonial signing in Rome of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, José Manuel Durão Barroso, President-designate of the European Commission, makes a speech in which he expresses his satisfaction with the progress represented by the text and stresses the need for European citizens to be well informed before the process of ratification is set in motion.

On 29 October 2004, in Rome, the Heads of State or Government of the 25 Member States of the European Union sign the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

View of the Julius Caesar Hall on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, where speeches are given during the ceremony for the signing of the Constitutional Treaty on 29 October 2004.

View of the Hall of the Horatii and Curiatii on the Capitoline Hill in Rome at the signing of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe on 29 October 2004.

Pens used to sign the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe on 29 October 2004 in Rome.

Seated from left to right during the signing of the Constitutional Treaty on 29 October 2004 in Rome: Romano Prodi, outgoing President of the European Commission; Josep Borrell, President of the European Parliament; Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, President of the European Convention; Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic; and Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister.

Group photo taken at the signing of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (Rome, 29 October 2004).

Power Point presentation on the main provisions of the Constitutional Treaty, following the structure of the text in four parts and protocols, produced for information purposes by the European Commission following the agreement reached by the Heads of State or Government on 18 June 2004.

Information brochure on the European Constitution, published in 2004 by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Summary of the agreement on the Constitutional Treaty, submitted as a non-paper on 28 June 2004 by the European Commission.

Summary of the Constitutional Treaty, drawn up for information purposes only by the European Parliament Secretariat following the adoption of the draft Treaty by the European Council on 17 and 18 June 2004 at the end of the IGC process.

In an article published in October 2004, Paolo Ponzano, Director of the Task Force on the Future of the Union and Institutional Matters set up by the Secretariat-General of the European Commission, describes the main innovative constitutional features enshrined in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

Le 30 septembre 2004, le quotidien français Le Monde propose dix clés pour comprendre les réels changements apportés par le projet de traité constitutionnel à l’acquis des traités précédents.

Le 6 octobre 2004, le quotidien français Le Monde analyse les innovations de la future Constitution par rapport aux traités précédents, dont la plupart seraient d’ordre symbolique.

On the eve of the signing of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe on 29 October 2004 in Rome, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reviews the principal advantages of the new Constitution compared to the provisions of the Treaty of Nice.

In an article published on 22 November 2004 in the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, the newspaper’s former publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Yvon Toussaint, summarises the main strengths of a treaty which, far from being perfect, is a ‘milestone treaty’ concluded thanks to the ‘art of the possible’.

On 7 December 2005, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reviews the provisions of the Constitutional Treaty relating to the distribution of powers between the European Union and the Member States.

On 24 May 2005, a few days before the referendum in France on the European Constitution, the French daily newspaper Le Figaro analyses in 100 keywords the main proposals of the Constitutional Treaty and particularly comments on its major innovations.

Table showing the ratification procedures — by means of a parliamentary decision or a referendum — in the 25 Member States of the European Union that are necessary for the entry into force of the Constitutional Treaty signed in Rome on 29 October 2004 (situation as at 5 December 2006).

On 13 December 2004, in an article for the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, Mario Monti, former Italian European Commissioner, proposes that the Twenty-Five undertake to find an alternative solution before beginning the ratification procedure for the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, should the text be rejected in one or more Member States of the European Union.

In an article published on 28 January 2005 in the weekly newspaper D’Lëtzebuerger Land, Gaston Vogel, a lawyer at the Luxembourg Bar, outlines his reasons for voting ‘No’ on 10 July in the referendum on the European Constitution.

In an article published on 11 February 2005 in the Luxembourg weekly newspaper D’Lëtzebuerger Land, Ben Fayot, Chairman of the Socialist Parliamentary Group in the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies, outlines his reasons for voting ‘Yes’ on 10 July 2005 in the referendum on the European Constitution.

On 6 April 2005, in an interview for the French radio station France Inter, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Union, gives his views on the debates surrounding the ratification of the European Constitutional Treaty and defends the innovative aspects of the text.

On 17 April 2005, the Spanish daily newspaper El País reports on fears within the European Union at a possible victory for the ‘no’ vote in the French referendum on the European Constitution, due to be held on 29 May.

Lors d'un entretien accordé au journal luxembourgeois Le Quotidien le 20 avril 2005, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing avance les vertus du traité constitutionnel dans le but de convaincre les Français qui hésitent encore à voter oui lors du référendum du 29 mai.

On 16 April 2005, Gianni Marsilli, leader writer for the Italian daily newspaper L’Unità, considers the consequences of a possible victory of the ‘No’ vote in the referendum for the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty in France.

On the evening of 29 May 2005, following the announcement of the ‘No’ vote in the French referendum on the Constitutional Treaty, the Presidents of the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission issue a joint declaration in Brussels which underlines the need for national and European authorities to reflect, in due course, on the outcome of all the stages of the ratification process.

On the evening of 1 June 2005, following the announcement of the ‘No’ vote in the Dutch referendum on the Constitutional Treaty, the Presidents of the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission issue a joint declaration in Brussels, in which they announce that an in-depth analysis of the situation will be conducted in order to make collective progress with the European project.

On 2 June 2005, the day after the referendum is held in the Netherlands on the European Constitution, the Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant reports on the reactions in the country and in Brussels.

Le 2 juin 2005, dans un contexte d'incertitude provoqué par le non français et néerlandais au traité constitutionnel, le quotidien français Le Monde recueille les avis des dirigeants européens sur la suite à donner au processus de ratification.

On 3 June 2005, two days after the referendum in the Netherlands on the European Constitution, the Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant analyses the profile of those who voted ‘No’.

Le 4 juin 2005, à l’occasion du 50ème anniversaire de la Conférence de Messine qui avait relancé la construction européenne suite au non de l’Assemblée nationale française à la Communauté européenne de défense, le président de la Commission européenne José Manuel Barroso constate le besoin de tirer des leçons du passé pour faire face à la crise déclenchée par les résultats négatifs en France et aux Pays-Bas des référendums sur la ratification du traité constitutionnel.

In an address to the European Parliament on 8 June 2005, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, emphasises that the European Council of 16 and 17 June must tackle two fundamental issues: sending out a message of unity on the ratification process of the Constitutional Treaty following the ‘No’ votes in the French and Dutch referendums and establishing a stable financial framework for the European Union for the next few years.

At the meeting of the European Council of 16 and 17 June 2005, the Heads of State or Government of the Member States of the European Union decide to institute a period of general reflection on the worries and concerns expressed at the time of the referendums in France and the Netherlands and agree to adapt, where necessary, the timetable for ratification, without necessarily questioning the validity of continuing the process.

In 2005, the Portuguese cartoonist Jorge Mateus takes an ironic look at the ratification process of the Constitutional Treaty, which closely links the fate of the Member States of the European Union.

In his editorial dated 21 January 2006, as the European Parliament begins a period of reflection on the future of the Constitutional Treaty, Ferdinando Riccardi, leader writer for Europe Daily Bulletin, comments on the differences of opinion among MEPs, as a result of which all options are being left open, from keeping the text as it stands to amending it or rejecting it completely.

The European Council of 15 and 16 June 2006 adopts an overall policy on transparency which concerns, in particular, the work of the Council of the European Union. According to this document, all Council deliberations on legislative acts to be adopted by codecision shall be open to the public as shall the votes and the explanation of votes by Council Members; Council deliberations on legislative acts other than those adopted by codecision may likewise be open to the public (see Annex I). The European Council requests the Council to take the measures necessary to ensure implementation of this new policy.

Au lendemain du Conseil européen des 15 et 16 juin 2006, le Bulletin Quotidien Europe expose les décisions prises, par les chefs d'État ou de gouvernement de l'Union européenne, sur l'avenir du traité constitutionnel.

On 13 November 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, gives an address to the European Parliament in which he outlines the reasons for the negative result in the French and Dutch referendums on the 2004 Constitutional Treaty. While praising the progress on institutional questions made by the new amending treaty, due to be signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007, the French President emphasises the need to resolve the political questions which remain.