Quaker Council for European Affairs

Quaker Council for European Affairs/Consejo Cuáquero de Asuntos Europeos/EUROPEAN UNION: Failed Constitution reborn as a "treaty" / UNIÓN EUROPEA: Constitución repudiada renace como "tratado"/IPS Noticias/Madrid/Spain/E.U./12-Oct-07/...Martina Weitsch, del Consejo Cuáquero para los Asuntos Europeos, una organización antibélica, siente que el nuevo tratado podría no estar a tono con los puntos de vista expresados por el jefe de política exterior de la UE, Javier Solana, entre otros políticos del bloque.

A comienzos de este mes, Solana reconoció que la prevención de crisis "no puede basarse exclusivamente sobre la seguridad".

Tras señalar que la industria militar y de armas facturó en Occidente un billón de dólares al año y que la asistencia al desarrollo era de menos de 100.000 millones, se preguntó: "¿Acaso no hay un margen allí para un cierto reequilibrio?".

"Hoy, muchas amenazas no son puramente militares, y puede haber un resquicio de luz en cuanto a que las cosas se están moviendo y que los políticos están reconociendo esto", dijo Weitsch a IPS.

"Así que tener un artículo en el tratado que compromete a los estados miembro de la UE a mejorar continuamente la capacidad militar es una medida muy mala. Una vez que esté en el tratado, será muy difícil sacarlo de nuevo", agregó. ..Martina Weitsch from the Quaker Council for European Affairs, an anti-war organisation, feels that the new treaty could be out of step with views expressed recently by leading EU politicians.

Earlier this month, for example, the Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana acknowledged that the prevention of crises "cannot be exclusively based on security." After pointing out that Western countries shower 1,000 billion dollars each year on the military and the arms industry, yet less than 100 billion dollars on development aid, he asked: "Is there not a margin there for a certain rebalancing?"

"Many threats today are not purely military and there might be a chink of light that things are moving on and policy makers are recognising this," Weitsch told IPS. "So having an article in the treaty that commits (EU) member states to continually improve military capabilities is a seriously bad step. Once you have it in the treaty, it is going to be very difficult to get it out again."

Some of the treaty's supporters have argued that the inclusion of a Charter of Fundamental Rights in the text weds Europe to social protection. But Susan George, a Paris-based writer and former head of Greenpeace, has pointed out that the provisions on workers' rights and equality in the charter go no further than those already guaranteed at national level in many EU states. In any event, the United Kingdom has secured an opt-out from the charter -- at the behest of the Confederation of British Industry which argued that it "would pose an unacceptable risk to the UK's flexible labour market."

"This appears to mean that while competition and market freedom are compulsory for all EU member states, even the most meager social rights are optional," said George.