Dear Europeans,

The final stage of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) is fast approaching. At the summit in Brussels on 12-13 December, the negotiations will presumably be closed on all the agenda items. The European Union will then finally have a Constitution, but according to the latest rumours it might not satisfy many more than a few European leaders. This could seriously endanger the work of the Union in the future, since on the contrary the current draft produced by the Convention enjoys high legitimacy.

Last weekend the Foreign Ministers met in Naples to discuss the proposal put forward by the Italian presidency (the document is part of this Bulletin). The meeting took place at a very unfortunate time, shortly after the Council made the decision not to impose fines on Germany and France because of their breaching the rules of the Stability and Growth pact. As a result, there was plenty of room for horse-trading and defending unacceptable positions behind the closed doors of the »conclave«.

Although the Italian proposal includes some welcome improvements in the field of Common Foreign and Security policy, it has some serious drawbacks. Leaving the main institutional questions (i.e. the composition of the Commission and the weighting of votes in the Council) open until the summit in Brussels could allow national interest to prevail in the last minute bargains and accordingly destroy the balanced compromise achieved inside the Convention. Besides the above-mentioned problem, pressures still exist to curb the European Parliament’s powers over the Union’s budget. Could it really turn out that the final text produced will in many aspects be worse than the one produced after the endless negotiations in Nice? We have to wait for another week to say the final words, but the present situation does not inspire optimism.

Many institutions and organisations call upon the IGC for the draft Constitution to be preserved. Accordingly, the Young European Federalists demand that our European leaders respect the institutional compromise produced by the Convention and fulfill the citizens' wish for more democracy and transparency. Fears of the draft being mutilated have recently been expressed also by the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Greens/EFA from the European Parliament, the Union of European Federalists and many more. The amount of critical remarks regarding the work of the IGC clearly shows that little has changed in the way it works and little has been done to listen to the demands of the citizens.

This bulletin will continue to be published on a monthly basis. The next edition will be send to you on 8 January 2004. As usual you are welcome to send us your contributions to mailto:convention@jef-europe.net, deadline for the next issue is 6 January 2004. You can read all articles of this Bulletin in full length on: http://www.constitutional-convention.net.
Let us hope that the next issue of this Bulletin will celebrate the emergence of a more democratic Europe!

Best European greetings,

Your Editor