This was the first meeting of the Convention after the summer break, and the first in the second phase of the Convention’s work. The main topic was the simplification of the instruments of the Union. There was a strong consensus among Convention members that the instruments have to be simplified in order to reach more democracy and transparency. A majority of Convention members agreed to have fewer instruments and a clear denomination of them. On the question whether certain types of legislations should correspond to certain categories of competences, there was no common position.

There was a clear majority to enhance the codecision procedure, as well as simplifying the procedure for the budget by eliminating the distinction between obligatory and non-obligatory expenditures. Most Convention members also spoke in favour of unanimity in the Council remaining only in exceptional cases, with qualified majority voting becoming the general rule.

The Convention also launched 4 new working groups: Foreign Relations (Dehaene); Defence (Barnier); Simplification (Amato); Justice and Domestic Policy (Bruton).

The working group 1 on Subsidiarity, chaired by Inigo Mendez de Vigo, also gave a report. This working group should finalise its text before the next session of the Convention. On this topic, a strong consensus was demonstrated for the creation of an early-warning system to watch the European institutions, to ensure that they stick to the principle of subsidiarity. In this system, the Commission would have to inform national parliaments about new legislative proposals. National parliaments would then have the possibility to express their opinion, which the institutions would have to take into consideration before presenting the next draft of the proposals. National parliaments would also have a chance to put forward their position during the whole legislative procedure. The real control, however, of whether the European institutions have maintained the principle of subsidiarity, can only take place after a law has passed. This should be done by the European Court of Justice. National parliaments and the Committee of the Regions should also have right of access to the Court.

The Working Group 3 on Legal Personality, chaired by Giulio Amato, also gave a report. Its paper will also be presented in the next session of the Convention. The group’s recommendation so far is to give the Union a uniform and united legal personality.

At the end, the President of the Convention Giscard d’Estaing announced that he will present a first outline of a Constitutional treaty at the end of October. The document 250/02 “Simplification of the Treaties and drawing up of a constitutional treaty“: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/02/cv00/00250en2.pdf gives some orientation of how this Constitutional treaty could look. The results of working group 3 are also important in this context, as the treaties could be merged if there is consensus within the Convention. Giscard d’Estaing also said that elements of the results of the working groups could already be included in the Constitutional treaty. By the beginning of next year, he intends to present a second draft of the treaty, but for the remainder of this year the subjects of the debates will be based on the reports of the various working groups.

The status of the working group results is still unclear, with the current position seeming to be that they will be regarded only as recommendations, and that there will be no voting in plenary on the results, but simply an acknowledgement of them. There may still be a third wave of working groups on institutional questions, but this remains to be decided.

Several alternative draft Constitutions have already been proposed, most recently by the EPP-ED Convention member Elmar Brök, indicating that the debate has moved far beyond general statements on missions to much more concrete and specific discussions about the details and on the basis of texts. Forthcoming Convention sessions are expected to concentrate in much more detail on the main issues which have been identified so far.

Jan Kreutz, jan.kreutz@jef-europe.net