Produced by the Secretariat of the Representatives of the European Parliament at the IGC

1. Working method of the meeting

The Presidency proposed to:
- deal with the amendments it suggested in Annexes 1, 2, 3 and 7 to 13 (Values, Union’s law, Charter and economic governance);
- discuss HJA at lunch;
- discuss enhanced cooperation and defence during the evening dinner;
- deal with institutions: Annexes 4 and 5 (formations and Presidency of the Council of Ministers), and 6 (Minister for Foreign Affairs), on Saturday morning.

2. General introductory remarks

The meeting started with a ‘tour de table’ during the course of which certain general introductory remarks were made in respect of:

- the overall development of the IGC: there seems to be a general desire to finish in December.

- the absence on the agenda of the question of weighting of votes within the Council: Spain and the UK consider this absence negative. Belgium in favour of dealing with this question next time in liaison with the question of extending qualified majority voting.

- the impact of the discussions within the ECOFIN on the Stability Pact: Netherlands, mainly followed by Spain, considers that they will inevitably have a negative influence on the debates of the IGC; without being so negative, the Commission as well as Greece recognizes that the ECOFIN discussions are an element to be taken into account in the current discussions. Germany, on the contrary, considers that there has been no weakening of the Stability Pact and that the IGC debates should not be affected; France, in the same vein, minimizes the significance of the ECOFIN discussions. The UK expresses its support for the solution found in the ECOFIN for France and Germany. Belgium and Luxembourg insist also that the IGC debates should not be affected.

In the end, no further mention was made of the Stability Pact during the course of the meeting.

To read the full summary click on:
http://www.europakonvent.info/europakonvent/konvent/psfile/download/67/CR_conclav3fcc5d59ad85e.rtf