Dear Europeans,

After politicians, citizens and civil society activists have had a long period to study the Convention’s Constitution over the summer months, the Constitutional process will now go into the next stage. On Friday 3 October, the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) will formally be opened. The European heads of state and government have the task to debate the Convention’s final result. The outcome of the IGC will then need to be ratified by all member states. Following the tradition created at the beginning of the Convention process, this bulletin will carefully follow the debates and will give a forum for civil society and political institutions to comment on the proceedings of the IGC. In this first IGC Bulletin you will find several documents, such as the Citizen’s guide from the Commission, which explains the IGC process.

Openness was a crucial precondition for the success of the Convention’s work and its result. In contrast, Intergovernmental Conferences have historically been known for reaching their decisions behind closed doors, excluding the public from the debate. Nevertheless there is a slim hope that the Constitution-IGC will at least in part follow the example set by the Convention and will ensure a certain amount of transparency in its discussions. Nongovernmental Organizations are willing to follow the debates within the IGC. This first bulletin already shows that they will express their opinions on the fate of the Convention’s Constitution. This bulletin includes a press release from JEF, asking the IGC not to touch the Convention’s result, as well as contributions from the European Women’s network. It also includes the position of the European Commission, three different political parties and the draft position of the European Parliament on the IGC process. To help different actors of civil society to have their say in the IGC-process, this bulletin also includes an IGC Toolkit prepared by the Civil Society Contact Group, giving useful information on how to lobby the IGC.

While the Intergovernmental Conference will discuss whether or not to amend the Constitution, we already need to look further ahead and consider the Constitution’s ratification procedures. The Union’s citizens need to be informed on the purpose and the content of the Constitution, regardless of whether they will be consulted via referenda. Europe’s political institutions, parties and actors in civil society must contribute to this process. This information bulletin will play its role in informing citizens by spreading information and opinions. By distributing this bulletin to citizens all over Europe, you can help to make the constitutional project a success.

From now on this bulletin will regularly be published on a monthly basis. Just as with the Convention Bulletin, it will stay closely linked to a homepage, informing you about the latest developments concerning the European Constitution as well as giving NGOs from all over Europe a platform for publishing their opinions. The next edition of this bulletin will be send to you on 6 November 2003. As usual you are welcome to send your contributions to mailto:convention@jef-europe.net. The deadline for the next issue is 4 November 2003.You can read the full-length articles of this Bulletin at: http://www.constitutional-convention.net.

Best European greetings,

Editor in chief.