Dear Europeans,

after the Christmas and new years break we would like to take the opportunity to wish you all the best for the new year. The discussions about the Future of Europe did not come to a halt. On the contrary: The Convention members are facing the most active phase and most decisive phase of their unique Convention experience. In less than six months, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing wants to present his lifework: A European Constitution.

In the last weeks there have been several new initiatives of which several are due to the restart of the German French motor. Already before Christmas, Fischer and de Villepin presented a common paper on economic governance. Last week the heads of government and the foreign ministers of France and Germany finally agreed on some institutional proposals. Also the French and German Socialists in the European Parliament have come up with common proposals. The European Socialists and Social Democrats have met last week in Florence and are expected to present a common paper outlining their demands to the Convention. This week the convention plenary is finally discussing the question of institutions, at a time when numerous groups outside the convention have already expressed their demands concerning this issue. Until the end of the month Valéry Giscard d’Estaing will also present the first articles of the constitution, the first flesh to his skeleton. The foreign minister of Slovenia replaces the former representative of the government in the convention and joins several of his colleagues. All these are indicators for an extremly bussy and decisive phase within and outside the convention.

One demand that also seems to be a demand of the majority within the convention – that the president of the European Commission has to be elected by the European Parliament – has been strengthened in the debate. A day after the French and German governments have agreed concerning this demand, 320 members of the European Parliament have signed a written declaration asking for the election trough the Parliament. Nevertheless the German French proposal to have a second president in the European Union – an elected president of the European Council – has received several critics. We have included several press releases on this issue in this bulletin.

This weeks Convention Bulletin is by far the most extensive edition we published so far, which is due to the amount of contributions we receive each week. Besides several convention contributions and summaries of the convention discussions we have included several opinions of institutions and organisations outside the convention. Further we have included a report on the Italian Youth Convention. Another article focuses on the question, whether youth opinion reaches the Convention and about the need for a second Youth Convention.

In order to follow up the debate within the convention on the institutions, we will have a chat on Wednesday, 22th January 7 PM, on: www.constitional-convention.net (link in the middle of the page).

If you would like to contribute to the next edition of the bulletin, send your contribution to convention@jef-europe.net (deadline for the 20th issue is 28th January). As usual, you can see all articles of this Bulletin in full length on the Constitutional Convention Homepage: www.constitional-convention.net.

Best European greetings,

Your Editors.