Lecture by Mr. A. Duff
By Fatima Bekkali and Farah Znagui
On Thursday April 27th at half past four, we went to visit the European Parliament. There, we listened to a talk given by Mr. Andrew Duff, MEP. The talk concerned the failure of the project for a European constitution. Mr. Duff was, and remains, a supporter of the European constitution, in which he sees large advantages. The Constitution would effectively mean political integration, with a much greater role for the European Parliament leading to a more democratic system. This is why the citizens must get interested in the European constitution.
According to Mr. Duff, the main reasons behind the failure of the Draft Constitution include bad leadership by, for example, Blair and Balkenende. The national governments had also conducted the promotion of the European Constitution badly. Therefore, the next time around, this promotion has to be much better.
The European Parliament will try to introduce a new European Constitution in 2008. The current draft will be modified. The citizens of the EU must be well-informed about the need for the constitution. Mr. Duff emphasised that if the European constitution will fail in 2008, the EU will experience significant disadvantages. Besides, it will become difficult (if not impossible) to enlarge the EU any further.
Mr. Duff was a very nice speaker. The presentation was not only interesting to listen to, but also humorous. Mr. Duff was one of the few speakers who succeeded in keeping the attention of the audience during the whole presentation. After the presentation, we got some time to ask questions.
Editor's Note:
Andrew Duff is MEP for the East of England region of the UK, member of the Liberal Democrats (the third largest party in the British Parliament) and Spokesman for Constitutional Affairs for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, the equivalent party in the European Parliament. An ardent supporter of the Constitutional Treaty and author of several texts on the subject (including "The Struggle for Europe's Constitution"), he is also involved in Joint EU-Turkey Parliamentary Group, which plays a large part in the process of Membership negotiations with that country. Unfortunately, due to time restraints - as well as a real willingness on the part of the students to engage with the subject of the Draft Constitutional Treaty - we were unable to discuss that part of his job in much detail.
To find out more about Mr Duff, visit www.andrewduffmep.org.