In this interview, Alain Lamassoure, French Minister for European Affairs from 1993 to 1995, Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1993 and since 1999, and Member of the Convention on the Future of Europe from 2002 to 2003, describes what he sees as the two main failures of the work of the Convention: the representation of the Member States in the European Commission and the system for the ratification of treaties by unanimous decision of the European Union Member States.

In this interview excerpt, Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of the European Communities from 1985 to 1995, believes that the majority of the Constitutional Treaty is taken up in the Lisbon Treaty, and feels little nostalgia for the European Convention or for any ‘constitutional' approach that gives rise to as much opposition as support.

On 4 April 2005 in London, John Monks, Secretary-General of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), emphasises the need for a Constitution for Europe and reaffirms the ETUC’s support for the Constitutional Treaty.

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 12 May 2005, the day of the ratification of the European Constitution in the Bundestag, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung explains why the European Constitutional Treaty is not a true Constitution.

On 6 April 2005, in Prague, Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, presents his book Say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the European Constitution, in which he encourages his fellow citizens to find out about the constitutional text before taking a decision in a possible national referendum on its ratification in late 2006 or early 2007. However, the words ‘SAY NO TO THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION’ in red letters leave no doubt as to his personal opinion.

On 9 July 2004, Hannes Farnleitner, Caspar Einem, Reinhard Eugen Bösch and Evelin Lichtenberger, former Austrian members of the Convention on the Future of Europe, hold a press conference in Vienna in which they outline the advances in the European Constitutional Treaty compared with former Community Treaties and with the present situation of the European Union.

On 28 April 2005, in an article for the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, Corinne Gobin, Director of the Groupe de recherche sur les acteurs internationaux et leurs discours (Research Group on International Actors and their Discourse — GRAID) at the Institute of Sociology of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, criticises the political consequences of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.