Big majority favour EU constitution referendum

A survey just published by the European Commission shows that 57 per cent of the Maltese believe it is essential for the people to air their opinion, through a referendum, on the new European constitution.

The survey was the second, held by the Commission in the member and acceding countries, which specifically targeted the work of the Convention for the Future of Europe, the draft European constitution and the intergovernmental conference.

The results show that a further 23 per cent of the Maltese believe that holding a referendum on the European constitution would be useful but not essential. Only nine per cent said holding a referendum on the subject was useless.

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami said recently there were no plans for a referendum on the constitution.

A staggering 64 per cent of the Maltese said they had never heard about the Convention for the Future of Europe, presided over by Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Thirty-four per cent said they heard about the convention.

The survey also shows that 67 per cent of the Maltese were not able to specify whether the convention had drawn up a declaration, directive, charter or a draft constitution.

When asked specifically whether they wished to read the draft constitution, 59 per cent of the Maltese said they did.

The survey found that 56 per cent of the Maltese did not know whether they were satisfied or not with the content of the draft constitution. However, 30 per cent were satisfied and only 14 per cent said they were not.

The outcome of the survey has also established that 63 per cent of the Maltese felt there should be a European constitution. Only 12 per cent disagreed.

Sixty five per cent of the respondents also said they believe the European Parliament should be able to vote on every decision concerning the future of the EU.

Fifty-seven per cent of the Maltese also approve of the creation of a single foreign minister for the EU. Only 19 per cent have disagreed.

The survey established that 59 per cent of the Maltese believe there should be a single president of the European Council who should be elected by the heads of government of the member states.

On a European level, even though 61 per cent of the citizens in the EU-25 have never heard of the convention, 67 per cent of the citizens sounded out in a recent Eurobarometer survey supported the idea of an EU constitution.

The poll revealed that 67 per cent of the respondents supported the idea of an EU constitution, with the highest levels of support found in Italy, Spain and Hungary.

Eighty-four per cent of the respondents said it would be "useful" or "essential" to express their opinion in an official referendum.

The Commission noted the high non-response rate ("don't know" or "no answer").

Generally, more men have heard about the Convention than women although this gender difference is more accentuated in the EU-15 (44 per cent of men versus 32 per cent of women).

The survey suggests that the knowledge of the convention rises with age. In the new member states, more young people aged 15 to 24 are aware of the convention than in the current EU member states (40 per cent and 15 per cent respectively).