On the morning of May 19, 2005, the CPAFFC and the China-Germany Friendship Association (CGFA) jointly held a public lecture, inviting visiting president of the Parliament of Bavaria State, Germany Alois Glueck to give a lecture entitled the Road of the EU Constitution.
Alois Glueck, a senior German statesman, has worked in the Parliament of Bavaria State for a long time, and assumed the post of president of the Parliament in 2003. Bavaria State is the largest state with the strongest economy in Germany. His visit to China this time was arranged by the German Hanns-Seidel Foundation at the invitation of the CPAFFC.
As the lecture was held at the time when France would hold a referendum on the Treaty of Establishing a Constitution for Europe within a few days and the chance of its ratification was slim, it attracted great interest among the researchers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, the China Academy of Social Sciences, the China Institute of International Studies, the University of International Business and Economics as well ascouncil members of the CGFA. President Glueck had been a journalist and was eloquent. His well-documented lecture was very interesting.
President Glueck gave an in-depth analysis and account of the historical development of the EU Constitution, its characteristics in the international law and the features of the Treaty. He said, the EU is a new thing in the international law. No one has ever experienced it. We Europeans are groping our way to cross the river. Even if France does not ratify the Treaty, the EU will carry on its integration. We can also find the direction to progress through consultation and compromise and by implementing the Nice Treaty. Only in this way, can Europe have an enduring peace.
After the lecture, President Glueck answered questions raised by the participants on the new problems emerging from the EU eastward enlargement, the reform of the EU, Turkey’s EU membership, etc.
Over 40 people of various circles including Ambassador Wang Shu, president of the CGFA, and Liu Zhiming, vice president of the CPAFFC, attended the lecture.