Dear Europeans,

The Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) failed. Against our wishes and hopes, the european leaders proved to be unable to deliver a strong political message of unity and produce a Constitution that Europe and it's citizens need. The first European Council of 25 Heads of State and Government could not agree on the basic legal text the Europe of the Future deserves and the momentum might be lost.

The possibility of a collapse was seriously considered by many pundits before the final Summit took place. The method in which the IGCs have worked in the past has proven inefficient, undemocratic and above all left plenty of space for horse-trading. The shameful muddle in Nice was a showcase of how unproductive secret negotiations can be. Ironically, the proof that the IGC method is out of date is the only »positive« lesson from Brussels. A lesson we have learned a long time ago.

According to the Italian Presidency there was general agreement on 99% of the issues, just one was missing. Unfortunately, nothing has been made official or public. An old saying reads: nothing can be decided until everything is. There was no provisional draft Constitution text produced by the IGC, the only existent text on the table is still the Draft Constitution produced by the European Convention, where all governments have been represented. Therefore, this text still bears the highest legitimacy and is far from dead.

What next? Immediatelly after the IGC, the ideas of a »multi-speed Europe« have emerged again. Further co-operation on certain policy areas is now more probable than ever, but this should not endanger the unity and solidarity among the member states. The uniform criticism expressed by nearly all european political actors (their Press releases are part of this Bulletin) aims directly at the IGC method. The year 2004 should therefore bury it and give birth to a new Europe by adopting the Draft produced by the Convention.

This bulletin will continue to be published on a monthly basis. The next edition will be send to you on 6th February 2004. As usual you are welcome to send us your contributions to mailto:convention@jef-europe.net, deadline for the next issue is 4th February 2004. You can read all articles of this Bulletin in full length on: http://www.constitutional-convention.net .

With best hopes in mind,

Editor in chief.