Dear Europeans,

Now that all the draft articles for the first and third part of the Constitution have been published, the public debate on the possible result of the Convention is become more and more lively. Many youth organisations, political organisations and other NGOs are raising their voices about the first constitutional draft. There are even serious proposals for a head-to-head debate between the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, and the President of the Convention, Valery Giscard d’Estaing. The work of the Convention members and civil society in these last weeks will be crucial in determining the final result of the Convention. The proposals presented by the Presidiums have not yet attracted the support of the majority of the Convention members, but more and more majority alliances have been built between Convention members on a wide range of issues. The debate on 15-16 April will show whether the Presidium will accept these majorities, or whether Giscard is determined to overrule the views of Convention members and instead push forward his own personal views on the future of Europe.

As well as some new contributions to the Convention and some sample amendments to the new articles, in this edition of the Bulletin you will also find some reactions from civil society organisations to the Presidium’s proposals.

As the Convention now has less than two months left to run, the time has run out for organising a second Youth Convention, as requested in the final document of the first Youth Convention, held last July in Brussels. However, it seems that Giscard has finally remembered that he promised at the beginning of the Convention to make a special effort to involve the views of young people. Thanks to the support of several members of the Convention Presidium and to the European Commission, there will be a smaller event to follow-up the results of the Youth Convention, to be held in Brussels on 20-21 May. This event will bring together the Youth Convention’s own Presidium and the rapporteurs of the working groups from the original event, as well as representatives from the various national Youth Conventions which have been held since then and from members of the Youth Contact Group. The objective is to evaluate the Convention’s result and compare with the demands of young people as expressed through the various Youth Conventions. More information can be found on this issue in the section, “Youth Convention follow up”.

If you would like to contribute to the next edition of the bulletin, send your contribution to mailto:convention@jef-europe.net (deadline for the 29th issue is 20 May). As usual, you can read all articles of this Bulletin in full length on the Constitutional Convention Homepage: http://www.constitutional-convention.net.

Best European greetings,

The Editor in chief