Although their has been no meeting of the convention plenary since we send out the last edition of the bulletin, there is much to report concerning the debate on the future of Europe. Following Germany appointment of Joschka Fischer, the French too have replaced their government representative. The new French Convention member is Dominique de Villepin, Foreign Minister. This shows that the governments have started taking the convention more seriously and are sending their most important representatives to take care of the work in the convention.

A restart of the German-French motor is another indicator for an acceleration of the debates within the convention. A week ago, the German and the French Governments presented a common position on the European Security and Foreign Policy. This paper could mark a turning point in the discussions in this area which have been blocked for a long time.

"The Convention tackles the issues head on. The Heads of State or Government will not be in a position to simply discard its conclusions. They start realising this. It is no accident that the new German Government has designated Joschka Fischer to sit in the Convention.

The main items of discussion which will be on the agenda during the coming months are clear: economic and social governance of the Union, the role of national parliaments and the control of subsidiarity, external action of the European Union and the institutional architecture.
[...]

In English:

http://www.constitutional-convention.net/archives/edition18/mandate_soc_eu_en.pdf

In French:

http://www.constitutional-convention.net/archives/edition18/mandate_soc_eu_fr.pdf

To read the document in French please see:

http://www.constitutional-convention.net/archives/edition18/FischerVillepinPESD.pdf

In German:

http://www.constitutional-convention.net/archives/edition18/FischerVillepinESVP.pdf

Mr. President,
Mr. Rector,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The College of Europe, located in the heart of the Cultural Capital of Europe, has a rich history of prominent speeches - one of them being even notorious - about the future of the European Union. I am particularly grateful to you, Mr. Rector, and to your collaborators. You give me the opportunity today to state my views on some important European issues.

In the months ahead of us, and in any event before the elections for the European Parliament in June 2004, we will have to finalise two ambitious projects. First, in 2004, we will enlarge the Union from 15 to 25 Member States and, subsequently, in 2007, to 27 Member States. Second, at the end of 2003 or, at the latest, at the beginning of 2004, we will adopt a European Constitution.

LETTER FROM THE PORTUGUESE YOUTH CONVENTION MEMBERS

Dear Colleagues from the European Youth Convention:

The Portuguese Delegation to the Youth Convention congratulates itself for the fact that our contribution has not ended on July 12th and that many delegates have united themselves to dynamise and enlarge the debate at the national level.

In fact, we share the same concerns os several of the other delegates who allready voiced their opinions regarding the possibility of the EYC being a one off event.

Even tough we agree that pressure must be exerted so that the EYC can be repeated, our opinion is that this can only make sense if we have our homework properly done. Thus, we believe that the best way to exert this pressure is to develop and foster the debate about the future of Europe at the national level, with the youth.

The enlargement of the European Union will mean 75 million young people in the EU. A substantial group that must be heard not least in the debate on the future of Europe.

Therefore this conference “YOUROPA – THE FUTURE OF EUROPE” 5th-8th of December aims at making more young people participate actively in the debates about the future of Europe.

200 young people from the EU member states and the candidate countries will gather in Brussels from November 29th until December 1st to work on the drafting of the future European Constitution.

The international youth meeting “Europe! A Generation Ahead” will be a brain-storming of really important topics, including the role of the EU institutions, the competences of the European Union and national governments, economic governance in Europe, foreign and security policy, justice and home affairs and subsidiarity. The aim of the initiative is to stimulate young Europeans to express what they think and what they want for the future construction and functioning of the EU. Their efforts will be supported by Anne VAN LANCKER, Convention member and MEP, and its proposals will be presented to the president of the Youth Convention Giacomo FILIBECK. This event will definitely prove that young people must have their say in Europe.

The Young European Federalists welcome the joint meeting between the Members of the European Parliament and Parliamentarians from the applicant countries. "It is important for the future EU members that they are involved in the European Institutions as early as possible," said Ingvild Stub, Vice-President of JEF-Europe. The use of candidate countries' languages in the parliamentary plenary session and the new flags in front of the Parliament building show that the historic process towards the final unification of the European continent has irreversibly started.

However, some of the most sensitive issues are still to be solved by the Union as well as the current and future EU members before the enlargement takes place. "The new EU members have to be treated fairly when it comes to the accession. The poorest countries of the new European Union should not be made net payers to the EU budget from the very beginning. On the other hand, the politicians should stress a great level of achievement that has been reached in recent years and the opportunities that lie in the process of enlargement. To insist purely on the costs and financial issues at this stage, would result in decreasing public support for the enlargement process," said Saso Romanovic, member of the JEF Europe Executive Bureau.

Introduction

The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) read with interest the Preliminary Draft Constitutional Treaty (Conv 369/02) presented by the Praesidium to the Convention at its plenary session of 28 October.

We welcome the fact that an attempt has been made to simplify the text and to make the structures and procedures more transparent and accessible to people living in the EU. We also welcome the principle of ‘participatory democracy’ set up in article 34 as a good starting point for the recognition of civil dialogue in Europe.

EWL is however very worried to note that the first preliminary Draft treaty does not include a single reference to equality of women and men in Europe. Although, this draft aims to provide one possible example of the future Treaty, it already clearly indicates an alarming backlash in the field of gender equality compared to the current Treaty establishing the European Community. EWL would like to draw the attention of Convention’s members to the fact that not only are women in Europe expecting to maintain the acquis communautaire in the field of gender equality, but that they are also anticipating the development and reinforcement of the policy of the Union in this field.

(German version, an English version will be soon available on his homepage http://europakonvent.info/)

Grundriss einer Europäischen Verfassung
Vorschlag von Johannes Voggenhuber MEP, Mitglied des Konvents

DIE EINHEIT EUROPAS

Präambel

Wir, die Bürgerinnen und Bürger Europas und ihre Staaten errichten mit dieser Verfassung

Die Europäische Union.

Wir gründen sie auf die unantastbare Würde des Menschen,
als einen Raum der Freiheit, des Rechts, der Solidarität,
des Wohlstands und der Sicherheit,
um, in Achtung der Vielfalt der Kulturen,
in innerem und äusserem Frieden zusammen zu leben.

(Unfortunately only in German)

Berliner Entwurf
18.11.2002
Verfassung für die Europäische Union

GUENTER GLOSER
Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages
Europapolitischer Sprecher
der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion

MICHAEL ROTH
Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages
Vorsitzender der Projektgruppe Europäische Verfassung
der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion

Erläuterungen

Der „Berliner Entwurf“ ist ein eigenständiger, sozialdemokratischer Denkanstoß zur aktuellen Verfassungsdebatte im Europäischen Konvent. Mit dem „Berliner Entwurf“ wird deutlich, wie europapolitisch Bewährtes weiterentwickelt, Bestehendes verbessert und Neues sinnvoll zu einer Verfassung für die Europäische Union geformt werden kann. Bewusst orientiert sich dieser Verfassungsentwurf an bereits bestehendem Recht in den europäischen Verträgen sowie an der Rechtsprechung des Europäischen Gerichtshofes. Er versteht sich damit zugleich als eine Würdigung der bisherigen Integrationsleistung und des Gemeinschafts-rechts.

Im Vordergrund des „Berliner Entwurfs“ steht das Ziel einer auch zukünftig handlungsfähigen Europäischen Union, die durch ein hohes Maß an Demokratie, Parlamentarisierung und Transparenz gekennzeichnet ist. Institutionell enthält dieser Entwurf ein eindeutiges Be-kenntnis zur „Gemeinschaftsmethode“ und deren Ausbau im Rahmen transparenter Verfah-ren und verbesserter demokratischer Kontrolle.

To see the constitutional proposal of Mr. Fayot, please see:

http://www.constitutional-convention.net/archives/edition18/fayot_const_draft.pdf