After 50 years of successful integration, Europe stands at a cross-roads. The “Future of Europe” debate, launched by the Heads of State and Government at the Laeken Summit in December 2001, offers a chance for all sectors of society to make their contributions. The Laeken Summit established a Convention, due to begin its work on 28 February, to propose reforms to arrive at a more democratic, transparent, and efficient EU. The Convention will meet in public and is charged with involving the citizens in its work, in order to move the debate out from behind closed doors and into the public domain where it belongs.

JEF, the “Young European Federalists”, believe that young people in particular must have a strong voice in this process. Young people must have the opportunity and the information to participate in this important debate. This Convention Bulletin is intended as a contribution to this debate.

"I would like a Constitution of the EU to be prepared by the Convention and adopted by the IGC before the end of 2003. The Convention on the future of the EU could be compared with the Philadelphia Convention, which prepared a constitution for the United States of America in 1787." - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, European Parliament, Strasbourg, 06.02.2002

1.What are your expectations for the Convention on the Future of Europe?

I very much hope that the Convention will start the process of reconnecting the citizens with the European Union and of communicating what Europe is all about. It is time for a genuine reform so that we can work together to create a Europe fit for its future. It is a very positive sign that for the first time the candidate countries are having a real say in the creation of our common European future.

2.What role do you see in the Convention for the members of the European Parliament?

I am very proud of the fact that it was the European Parliament which created, developed, and won the argument in favour of a Convention. It was the members of the European Parliament who argued in favour of a new way of creating the new Europe - in favour of an open and democratic and transparent way - which allows us to get in touch with a rising generation of Europeans who are untouched by business done behind closed doors.

Members of the European Parliament represent the voices of the peoples of Europe. They have a special responsibility to promote the European interest over narrow national concerns, and to ensure that the Convention seizes the opportunity to make a real difference to the European system.

Our determination as Parliament is to promote the democratic Europe over the technocratic Europe and to insist on openness.

Open Letter from the Young European Federalists to Members of the Convention

The Young European Federalists call on the Convention to draft a Constitution for a European Federation

The Young European Federalists welcome the creation of the European Constitutional Convention: a new and historic opportunity for individuals, representing the governments and parliaments of member states and candidate countries and the European Parliament, to move beyond the stale horse-trading of recent years and present a bold proposal for a Constitution for a European federation.

Today, you, the members of the Convention, have the chance to lay the foundations of a genuine European democracy, and to make the Union fit for the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow. But unless you show your resolve to work in an open and transparent manner and to engage the interest and support of the citizens of Europe, the Convention will become merely another talking shop for politicians behind closed doors. Such a return to the intergovernmental and undemocratic ‘business as usual’ can only damage the legitimacy of the European project. The future of Europe concerns all the peoples of Europe, and their voices must be heard.

During the last YEPP Council meeting in Geneva on 26 January a YEPP was adopted paper with 10 theses on the future of Europe. This paper was prepared in a process that started last summer with the contributions of an ad hoc working group of International Secretaries, Board Members and experienced participants, and continued by discussions in Stockholm in September and Belgium in November last year.

With 10 theses on the Future of Europe Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP) wants to focus to the challenges which European Union will face in the near future. The upcoming enlargement process will lead to the political re-unification of the European continent after decades of division. On the other hand, to be successful with possibly 25 members and almost 500 million people Union must go through many reforms. In order to serve its citizens, European Union must present easy -to-understand document that includes the fundamental rights of all EU-citizens, the distribution of competencies between European Union and Member States as well as the distribution of power among the institutions of the Union.

To enable Europe to fulfil these tasks YEPP calls for a European Union based on accountability, democracy, freedom, good governance, solidarity, subsidiarity, sustainable development and transparency. These principles should be laid down in a European Constitution, which should include the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. It should also define and limit the powers of the institutions of the Union.
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The Constitution will be drafted by the Convention and will be proposed to an intergovernmental conference of the EU in 2003. Because of the delayed start of the Intergovernmental Conference it will unfortunately not be able to conclude the Constitution by the end of 2003. When proposed to the Intergovernmental Conference the opinion of applicant countries should be heard. The Convention process must be accompanied by public discussions on the EU reforms. In order to facilitate these and to make our politics and concept visible we propose that all Convention members and deputy members from EPP and like-minded parties form an EPP-ED GROUP in the Convention.

YEPP wants contribute to this public debate. Europe’s youth has a deep interest in the outcome of the Convention. The Constitution of the European Union will shape the living together of our nations and peoples for tomorrow and the time beyond. We propose to organize in cooperation with EPP a YOUTH CONVENTION on the future of the European Union to accompany the work of the Convention agreed by the Council of the European Union in Laeken. YEPP members represent all the member states and applicant countries in reviewing the work in the Convention and formulate their detailed expectations with regard to the Constitution. These events are mainly used for attracting public attention and creating public pressure on the Convention’s work and our EPP representatives, especially in the interest of young people.

Riikka Kervinen

Deputy Secretary General
Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP)

Contribution from Liberal and Radical Youth Movement of the European Union (LYMEC)

The Liberal and Radical Youth Movement of the European Union ( for short: LYMEC) favours a federal European Union, that concentrates on a number of core-tasks. The so-called subsidiarity principle is paramount in our vision of a federal Europe. Brussels and Strasbourg have a great role to play on a number of issues when it comes to environment, trade, free movement and for instance security policies. Other fields are better dealt with on a national or regional level. Our vision of Europe is one that works for the interest of the free citizen.

It is exactly that issue concerning what Europe should be about and responsible for that interests us in the Convention. Europes responsibilities should be more clearly defined. What is the relationship between the Union, the member states and regions and the citizens they serve? What kind of institutional frame work can best work for a European Union that has more than 350 million citizens and 25 member states? We expect from the Convention an outcome that can make the European Union more concrete, democratic and transparant and closer to the citizens.

Daniel Tanahatoe,
LYMEC President

The Laeken Declaration was the result of the European Council of 14-15th December 2001, at the conclusion of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union. It provided for the establishment of a Convention to draw up proposals for the reform of the European Union. This represents an entirely new political process in the history of European integration.

Background to the Laeken Declaration

The European Union began life as a Community of six member states, concerned primarily with economic integration. Successive enlargements brought the number of members to 15, while successive rounds of treaty reform have expanded the number of policy areas in which the Union is involved. Throughout all of these changes, the basic institutional structures of the early days have remained unchanged. These structures are now showing the strain of this expansion, and decision-making has become more complex and time-consuming. At the same time, the increase in the number of policy areas dealt with at the European level has opened up a gap between decision-making and democratic accountability.

A short summary of the political career of the Convention Vice President.

Jean-Luc Dehaene was born in Montpellier, France on 7 August 1940. He gained his degrees in law and economics at the Universities of Namur and Leuven. He started his political career in 1967 with C.V.P. Jongeren. From 1971, he held the position of advisor to a number of Ministerial Cabinets, and then worked as a Head of Cabinet for several different Ministers. He first held a ministerial post in 1981. From 1988 to 1992, he then became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Traffic and Transport and Institutional Reform. Finally, as Prime Minister, he led two governments, viz., from 1992 to 1995, and subsequently from 1995 to July 1999.

A short summary of the political career of the Convention Vice-President.

Born in Turin on May 13, 1938, but grown up in Tuscany, Giuliano Amato studied law at the University of Pisa, where he graduated in 1960. He received a Master's degree in Comparative Law at the Law School of the Columbia University (New York) in 1963.

After teaching at the Universities of Modena, Perugia and Florence, he was Full Professor of Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Rome, School of Political Science, from 1975 to 1997.

Amato began his political career in 1958, when he joined the Socialist Party, for which eventually he was an M.P. from 1983 to 1993.

An academic nicknamed "Subtle Doctor" for his ability to see the fine points of an argument, apart from many other assignments, 1 he was Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister's office, from 1983 to 1987, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Treasury, from 1987 to 1988, then again Treasury Minister, from 1988 to 1989.