Dear Europeans,

Finally, but slowly, there seems to be some progress in the Convention. The first two working groups are nearly finished and have published their preliminary results. At the first session after the summer break, the discussion moved from general issues to concrete legal questions. There are also more detailed summaries available from the Convention secretariat on the first phase, which enabled Convention members to work with concrete documents. President Giscard d’Estaing also announced that he will present a more detailed framework for the Presidium’s draft of a European Constitutional Treaty, which will give a direction to the debate within the Convention.

Another important development is the publication of several Constitutional proposals from different parties, which are included in this Bulletin. This shows that the idea of a European Constitution is broadly accepted, and that the time has come to decide on the exact content of this Constitution.

“Emphasising the need to modernise and strengthen the European Union, I would suggest focusing on following challenges:
There are too many legislative procedures.
The procedures are too complex and complicated.
The legislation process lasts too long.
The European Parliament does not play sufficient role in the decision-making process and in composing the EU budget.
We face the democracy deficit.”

Senator Edmund Wittbrodt,
Representative of the Polish Parliament to the European Convention
Brussels, 12-13.09.2002.

This was the first meeting of the Convention after the summer break, and the first in the second phase of the Convention’s work. The main topic was the simplification of the instruments of the Union. There was a strong consensus among Convention members that the instruments have to be simplified in order to reach more democracy and transparency. A majority of Convention members agreed to have fewer instruments and a clear denomination of them. On the question whether certain types of legislations should correspond to certain categories of competences, there was no common position.

There was a clear majority to enhance the codecision procedure, as well as simplifying the procedure for the budget by eliminating the distinction between obligatory and non-obligatory expenditures. Most Convention members also spoke in favour of unanimity in the Council remaining only in exceptional cases, with qualified majority voting becoming the general rule.

Introduction
As the European Convention enters its second term, this report provides a succinct and up-to-date overview of the Convention's activities since its inauguration in March, appraising what has been achieved so far and offering a prognosis for its development and outcome.

Background

1. The Nice European Council of December 2000 decided that an intergovernmental conference (IGC) should be held in 2004 and that the preparatory work be carried out by a Convention, inspired by the one which prepared for the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DELEGATION
TO THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION
- Secretariat -

Summary of individual contributions
from Members of the Convention

http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/02/cv00/00250en2.pdf

http://european-convention.eu.int/docs/wd1/2803.pdf

http://european-convention.eu.int/docs/wd3/2892.pdf

The Youth Convention concluded on 12 July 2002, with a joint session together with the senior Convention. The Youth Convention included in its final declaration a demand for an effective follow-up on the part of the senior Convention, including a commitment from Convention members to remain in contact with their young counterparts, as well as support from the senior Convention in involving more young people in the debate on the future of Europe. In recognition of their efforts, and of the importance of maintaining and increasing youth involvement in the Convention’s work, the Presidium of the Convention invited the President and two Vice Presidents of the Youth Convention to be observers at future sessions of the senior Convention.

The Presidium of the Youth Convention have shown their commitment to a continued and structured involvement of young people in the Convention’s work. Both Giacomo Filibeck, President, and Ellen Trane Nørby, Vice President, attended the first session of the Convention after the summer break, despite logistical difficulties such as problems in gaining passes to enter the hemicycle. It is hoped that for subsequent meetings, a solution will be found regarding their travel expenses (which are currently not covered), to allow them to continue to fulfil their mandate and to take up the invitation of the senior Convention to observe the sessions.

Finnish Youth Co-Operation Allianssi and JEF- Finland proposed during the spring 2002 to organise a national youth convention in Finland. Now the major decisions for the convention have been taken; the Finnish ministry of education and the Finnish information centre of European Parliament have assigned funding.

The national youth convention’s main aim is to enhance young people’s involvement in the discussion on the EU’s future and to bring out the youth’s voice in the work of the EU's future convention.

From Thursday 5 December to Sunday 8 December this year, the Danish Presidency, in cooperation with the Danish Youth Council (DUF), will organise a Youth Convention in Copenhagen. The event aims bring together 250 young people from all around Europe, and will be structured in such a way as to allow all the participants to contribute to its work. Most of the work will be done in working groups, which will cover such diverse topics as Racism and discrimination, European culture, Education and mobility in Europe, EU and globalisation and security, democracy in the EU, and the future of Europe debate. At the end of the event, it is intended that the final results from the working groups will be presented to a group of Convention members and a representative of the Danish government. The representatives of young people themselves, through the national Youth Council, have participated fully in the design and structure of the event. It is hoped that this will avoid the criticisms attracted by the Brussels Youth Convention, which was overly-controlled by the Convention secretariat and which allowed young people themselves relatively little input into the design of the event.

This event, echoing other national Youth Conventions which are beginning to be organised around Europe, will provide the opportunity for the views and concerns of young people to be included in the debate on the future of Europe. It is also another opportunity for the debate to be brought out from the traditional Brussels circles to a wider public.

Further information will be available from the beginning of October at www.youropa.dk (Youth Portal of the Danish Presidency)

As the European Convention started its work again a few days ago, the French "friends of the Convention" (a working group within JE-France), also met on Monday night. At the entrance, we had (as every time) access to the latest documents published or received by the Convention's secretariat. Some of them were very interesting, especially the work of the secretariat trying to merge all the different positions already expressed in a Constitution with different options depending on who defended what. After getting a few general pieces of information on the activities of the different groups, our guest tonight, Mr. Pierre Moscovici, (representing the French national government, who was maintained in his position as a Convention member although he has different political views than our new government), expressed his ideas about Europe. In fact, he does not have a very precise vision, he is quite "open": he likes many ideas but does not convey the feeling of having a concrete vision...

Here are his main ideas, in a few words:

PREAMBLE

We, the Citizens of Europe,
- mindful of our common history and shared experiences of war and conflicts, unification and co-operation;
- confirming the importance of universal human rights;
- mindful of our cultural and linguistic heritage and the different identities and traditions on local, regional, national and European level;
- being convinced that co-operation over national borders is a driving force for peace, freedom and prosperity;
- wishing to establish a government based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law;
- being convinced that European integration and co-operation is the best way to unite a democratic and open society with efficiency in political action and economic and societal development on the European continent;
- therefore wishing to establish a European Union;
- wanting this Union to be based on universal values such as human dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality, solidarity and respect for the environment we live in;
- being firmly decided to strengthen the continued integration of our economies;
- being convinced of the important role of the European Union in the struggle for global justice, democracy and sustainable development;
- wishing to clarify the goals and the principles of the European Union for all its citizens;
have today agreed on this Constitution for the European Union as an expression of our will to build a Europe in peace and freedom.

For an interview with Duff click here

Preamble
The member states and citizens of the European Union, Determined henceforward to live together in justice, freedom and peace, to uphold democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law, to respect the diverse cultures of Europe, to organise our relations together,
do establish this as our Constitution.

Article 1 – SCOPE
1. The Union shall set itself the following objectives:
to promote social and economic progress, to establish an area of freedom, security and justice, to enhance the environment of Europe and the world,
to secure and defend the Union.
1 This contribution builds in particular on CONV 22/02 and CONV 57/02.
CONV 234/02 3

CONTENTS
PREAMBLE
PART ONE. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
Title I Human dignity
Title II Freedoms
Title III Equality
Title IV Solidarity
Title V Citizens’ rights
Title VI Justice
Title VII Scope of guaranteed rights
PART TWO. Principles of the Union
Title I Foundations of the Union
Title II Tasks and objectives of the Union
Title III Powers of the Union
PART THREE. Organisation of the Union
Title I Foundations of Union organisation
Title II Institutions of the Union
Chapter 1. The European Parliament
Chapter 2. The Council of the European Union
Chapter 3. The European Commission
Chapter 4. The European Court of Justice
Chapter 5. The European Court of Auditors
Chapter 6. The Economic and Social Committee
Chapter 7. The Committee of the Regions
Title III Legislation of the Union
Title IV Budget of the Union
Title V External relations of the Union
PART FOUR Enhanced cooperation
PART FIVE. General and Final Provisions
Annex I: Constitutional Protocols concerning the Policies of the
Union

PRESS RELEASE
Brussels, 18 June 2002

President of EU must be elected by the European Parliament

The Intergroup European Constitution has stressed its opposition to the idea that the European Council wants to elect a president for the EU. Such a presidency would command neither sufficient legitimacy, nor would it be transparent enough, declared the European deputies who have taken part in a comprehensive debate about this issue during the last parliamentary session in Strassbourg.

The president of the EU has to receive legitimacy directly from the citizens of the European Union. The president of the Union therefore has to be elected by the European Parliament, and not to be nominated by the European Council. The deputies emphasised that the president of the European Commission and not the president of the European Council should be the head of the executive in the EU. The community method favours the common "European interest" and guarantees the balance between large and small member states.

par Pervenche BERÈS
Vice-Présidente du Groupe du PSE au Parlement européen, chargée des relations avec la société civile à la Convention européenne,
Présidente de la Délégation socialiste française
Membre de la Convention européenne

La Convention européenne sera-t-elle l'instance du grand nettoyage ? Beaucoup l'espèrent, certains le craignent, tous s'interrogent.
Dans le contexte de la montée des extrêmes droites en Europe, qui fustigent le pouvoir de Bruxelles, la persistance du déficit démocratique et le manque de transparence, la Convention saura-t-elle rompre avec l'Europe des technocrates et des hauts fonctionnaires? Une Europe sociale, politique et citoyenne est-elle possible ? Au moment où la Convention s'engage dans le vif du débat, il est utile de s’interroger sur les grands enjeux de l'exercice et sur les points sensibles que la Convention européenne devra trancher, tels qu'ils peuvent être identifiés par les Socialistes européens.