Brussels, 11 June 2003

1. The International European Movement (IEM) has examined the work so far accomplished by the European Convention. It emphasises that the work of the Convention is to produce a draft Constitution, which expresses the wishes and aspirations of the people of Europe and the means, needed to achieve them. It appeals to the members of the Convention to make one last effort to realise their ambition and innovation.

2. The Constitution must not represent a step backwards from the provisions of the present Treaties. In this context, the IEM demands that in Article Two, equality between men and women is clearly stated to be a value fundamental to European Union identity. In addition, the IEM demands that the principle of non-discrimination in the areas included in Article Thirteen of the Treaty on the European Community should be included in the Constitution.

3. The IEM is pleased that many of the priorities demanded by its Federal Council in Copenhagen, December 2002, have been accepted, but it insists on its demand for the abandonment of unanimity with regard to taxation and the revision procedure as well as the necessity to foresee the replacement of national contributions by own resources.

4. The IEM is convinced of the necessity to give the Constitution a strong legitimacy, supported by the citizens. This implies that the necessary time should be foreseen between the adoption of the text by the Convention and the beginning of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to allow for discussion within the national parliaments and the civil society. The IGC should finish its work prior to the European Council in December 2003, and the IEM asks the Heads of State and Government to commit themselves to respecting the results of the work of the Convention.

5. The European Parliament should approve the final Constitution after the European elections of 2004, thus ensuring that these elections would be about the Draft Constitution, thus involving the European citizens in the approval process.

The IEM reaffirms its conviction that the Constitution should come into force among those Member States who have ratified it, even if a limited number of Member States have not ratified it.