Dear Europeans,

We are coming to the end of a historic week. Tonight, by completing the enlargement negotiations, the heads of states will reunite a big part of the European continent. At the same time there have been several important contributions within the convention. The European Commission has put forward their vision of the institutional structre of the future European Union: the first supranational democracy in the world.

In addition to the official contribution, the Commission also published a proposal for a European Constitution. This paper provoked a lot of discussions within and outside the convention. The document does not only propose to strengthen the community method, but also brings up the question of the ratification of the Constitution.

At the same day, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg presented the BeNeLux Memorandum where they laid out their position for the Convention. There are also further French-German Contributions. Fischer and Villepin published a common paper on the Area of Freedom Security and Justice and there are some rumours that there will be a third paper to follow, concentrating on economic policy. Furthermore, the final reports on "Simplification" and "Freedom, Security and Justice" have been presented. Shortly after the recent plenary, the working group "Social Europe" met for the first time.

All this activity shows that the politicians in and around the Convention have really woken up. It will be interesting to see whether it will be possible to agree on the important questions of the institutions in plenary and how much the presidium will be able to direct these discussions.

Besides many Convention Contributions, in this edition you can find opinions from Youth and Non-Youth Organisations in this bulletin. We also had the opportunity to interview Elmar Brok MEP and have included a link to the newest version of his European Constitution Proposal.

Following the large conference in Brussels 2 weeks ago organised by JEF, entitled "Europe - A Generation Ahead", we will continue the debates on our Discussion Forum on are looking to stimulate an online discussion of the topics of the Convention. A fortnightly ONLINE CHAT on the Future of Europe which will take place next Monday, 16th December 7 pm, at http://www.constitional-convention.net/ (link in the middle of the page) and the debate will continue in the discussion forum.

If you would like to contribute to the next edition of the bulletin, send your contribution to info@constitutional-convention.net (deadline for the 20th issue is 14th January). As usual, you can see all articles of this Bulletin in full length on the Constitutional Convention Homepage: http://www.constitional-convention.net/

Best European greetings,

Your Editors