Dear Europeans,

In less than three months, the European Convention should present its final
proposal for a European Constitution. Although many articles have been
presented, many hot topics have not yet been tackled. The Presidium has
responded to the time pressure by scheduling more and more meetings, but also by bringing the drafting phase for the articles to an end. In the last
Convention session on 3-4 April, three new titles of the Constitution have
been presented: "The Union and its immediate environment"; "Participatory
democracy"; and the "General and Final provisions of the European
Constitution". As the Presidium was not able to agree on many of these
articles, they have simply put forward articles representing the status quo,
especially concerning the final provisions of the EU. The comments given by
the Presidium suggesting possible changes to the status quo will nevertheless
provide a lot of room for debate.

One of the few plus points in the Iraq crisis is that it is forcing us to talk honestly about the very essence of the Union. We should not be afraid of an open debate.”

[President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, at the French National Assembly, on 12th March 2003.]

1. What is your impression of the work of the Convention so far?

I think it is now coming to a point where concrete results will be emerging. For instance, today a group of representatives of 16 countries had their first conference where they presented a common position on the institutions. Some people have nicknamed this the “proposal of the dwarves”, as it is the 16 small countries who have been presenting their views that equality of representation must be maintained. In this view, the European Union should be like the United States, where in the House of Representatives each of the states is represented more or less proportionately so there is a difference between the larger and the smaller, while in the Senate, each state is equally represented regardless of size. This would be the concept for the European Parliament and the Council. But of course it is different in the case of Europe because of the specificity of the European Union which is the Community method, particularly the role of the European Commission. That is why this group calls itself the fans of the Community Method.

Article 33: The principle of democratic equality

The Union's operation shall be founded on the principle of the equality of citizens, who shall receive equal attention from the Union's institutions.

Article 34: The principle of participatory democracy

1. Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union.

2. The Union institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their opinions on all areas of Union action.

3. The Union institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.

Article 42

1. The Union shall develop a special relationship with its neighbouring States, aiming to establish an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness characterised by close and peaceful relations based on cooperation.

2. For this purpose, the Union may conclude and implement specific agreements with the countries concerned in accordance with of Article X on Part Two of the Constitution. These agreements may contain reciprocal rights and obligations as well as the possibility of undertaking activities jointly. Their implementation shall be the subject of periodic consultation.

To see all articles and comments of the presidium, click: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00649en03.pdf.

To see amendments to these articles click: http://european-convention.eu.int/amendments.asp?content=31)#=EN

Article 43: Criteria to be eligible for Union membership

The Union shall be open to all European States whose peoples share the values referred to in Article 2, and who respect them and are committed to promoting them together. Accession to the Union implies acceptance of its Constitution.

Article A: Repeal of earlier Treaties

The Treaty establishing the European Community of 25 March 1957, the Single Act of 17 February 1986, the Treaty on European Union of 7 February 1992, the Treaty of Amsterdam of 2 October 1997 and the Treaty of Nice of 26 February 2001 shall be repealed as from the date of entry into force of the Constitutional Treaty. The acts and treaties listed in the Annex shall also be repealed.

ANALYSIS OF ALL THE AMENDMENTS

1. The Convention members have presented 69 amendments to draft Articles 38 to 40. The amendments presented cover a wide variety of subjects which makes it difficult to order them logically.

2. Nevertheless, two very clear conclusions may be drawn:
- There seems to be broad consensus on the idea of formally establishing the financial perspective in the Constitution as a binding framework for the annual budget.
- The budgetary principles proposed by the Praesidium in draft Article 39 have generally been well received by the Convention members.

LA REFORME DES DISPOSITIONS FINANCIERES DU TRAITE

La France soutient les efforts de la Convention visant à mettre en harmonie les dispositions du Traité et la réalité du processus décisionnel, tel qu’il a fait ses preuves au cours des dernières années sans remettre en cause l’équilibre entre la Commission, le Parlement et le Conseil trouvé grâce aux accords interinstitutionnels. Les principes de discipline budgétaire et d’équilibre doivent également conserver toute leur force.

En conséquence, la France estime que la refonte des dispositions financières du Traité devrait reposer sur les orientations suivantes.

LA REFORME DES DISPOSITIONS FINANCIERES DU TRAITE

La France soutient les efforts de la Convention visant à mettre en harmonie les dispositions du Traité et la réalité du processus décisionnel, tel qu’il a fait ses preuves au cours des dernières années sans remettre en cause l’équilibre entre la Commission, le Parlement et le Conseil trouvé grâce aux accords interinstitutionnels. Les principes de discipline budgétaire et d’équilibre doivent également conserver toute leur force.

En conséquence, la France estime que la refonte des dispositions financières du Traité devrait reposer sur les orientations suivantes.

NON-PAPER ON THE FUTURE BUDGETARY SYSTEM IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Input to the European Convention Mrs. Lena Hjelm-Wallén and Mr. Gijs de Vries, Members of the Convention, would like to present the following paper on the future budgetary system.
The future budgetary system in the EU should be based on the concepts of long-term stability, accountability and institutional balance. The system should promote efficient resource allocation, which is absolutely necessary in order to find room for expenditures caused by the new challenges facing the Union.

Framework of proceedings for the discussion circle on own resources

Own resources are revenue which finances the Union's budget and is due to it "as of right" (the justification for the name "own"), within an annual ceiling fixed in terms of a percentage of the Union's gross national product. Own resources currently fall into four categories:
- agricultural levies
- duties in the common customs tariff
- a percentage of the amount resulting from the application of a uniform rate to the VAT assessment base, determined according to Community rules
- an amount resulting from the application of a rate, to be fixed under the annual budgetary procedure, to an assessment basis representing the sum of the gross national products (calculated uniformly according to Community rules).

The first two, also the earliest, currently account for a residual percentage of Union revenue as a whole.

The annual ceiling on revenue represents the limits of the Union's budget. As well as being the subject of the discussion on the financial perspective at each negotiation, it is enshrined in the Own Resources Decision adopted on the basis of Article 269 TEC which also establishes the breakdown between the different resources.

To read the full document: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00654en03.pdf.

Open method of coordination - a draft Treaty Article

Article XX

1. Member States may apply an open method of coordination to coordinate national policies and otherwise cooperate to achieve Union objectives. Coordination according to this method is not aimed at harmonizing laws and regulations of the Member States.

2. The open method of coordination may be applied where the Union has no legislative powers, or where the Union has powers to establish minimum requirements through European framework laws.

3. Application of the open method of coordination can include:
- setting common goals and timetables;
- establishing indicators;
- regular monitoring and evaluation;
- exchanges of information and best practices;
- other measures designed to increase coordination between Member States.

We propose that the Convention recommends to the Inter-Governmental onference that the draft European Constitution be approved not only by National Parliaments and the European Parliament but also by the citizens of Europe in binding referendums. These referendums should take place in accordance with the constitutional provisions of the member states. They should be held simultaneously on the same day, an option being the same day as the European Parliament Elections in June 2004. Those member states whose constitutions do not currently permit referendums are called upon to hold at least consultative referendums. An information campaign must be publicly funded.

To read the article including the names of the signatories, click: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00658en03.pdf.

Actualité gouvernementale
Réunion informelle de sept Etats membres de l'Union européenne qui partagent globalement la même conception de l'Europe
01-04-2003

Le mardi 1er avril 2003 a eu lieu à Luxembourg une réunion informelle de sept Etats membres de l'Union européenne qui partagent globalement la même conception de l'Europe, basée notamment sur un renforcement de la méthode communautaire, un équilibre entre les institutions européennes ainsi que sur l'égalité entre tous les Etats membres.
Lors de cette réunion informelle les Premier ministres et ministres des Affaires étrangères des trois pays membres du Benelux, de l'Autriche, de la Finlande, de l'Irlande et du Portugal ont discuté des questions des réformes institutionnelles qui font actuellement l'objet des travaux de la Convention sur l'avenir de l'Union.

The Convention has entered its decisive period. The next few months will show whether the Convention is able to produce a coherent draft for a federal European Constitution or if it will fail. Now that the Presidium has published the first drafts for the articles, it is time to set out some criteria to judge it by. The various and numerous amendments put forward show that the Presidium’s draft has not entirely achieved a consensus among the Convention members.

JEF declares its opposition to any form of mentioning religion, the role of the church or a „spiritual” heritage in the evolving Constitution. The European Union is a political organisation with a strict separation of its “statehood” and church(es). Nevertheless, it is up to the member states to define their relations to the church in a different way if they wish to do so.

Given the variety of experience with the role of church in the EU member states it would be wrong to find a reference in the Constitution. In addition, the pluralistic character of the European citizens with regards to (non-)belief, ethnicity or culture is one of the strenghts of the Union. To give preference to one group only (in case of a regligious reference) might not be helpful in this regard.

Since the Union has no and shall have no competences with regards to the organisation of churches it would be wrong to include reference to it in the Constitution.

To find the resolution online, click: www.jef-europe.net/policies/archives/001099.html.

JEF-Europe’s Federal Committee, meeting in Prague, March 2003

1. Hopes that the European Convention will propose a Federal Constitution for Europe, and that this will then be agreed by the Inter-Governmental Conference in December 2003.

2. Believes that it is important that the new arrangements for governing the European Union have the support of its citizens.

3. It is essential that the citizens of the European Union have enough knowledge of what the new Constitution includes, no matter how the Constitution will eventually be ratified.

The Young European Federalists see Europe, and the European Union, as a political community, based not primarily on a shared culture and religion but on the basis of shared values of democracy, respect for human rights and peaceful economic co-operation. The European Union should be open to countries whose citizens consider themselves European and share the political aims, goals and aspirations of the Union.

The Federal Committee of the Young European Federalists, meeting in Prague 28-30 March 2003,
Rejecting:

- The idea that there exists a single cultural, ethnic or religious basis for eligibility for membership of the European Union.

- The notion that membership of the European Union could be granted to any country for strategic reasons, and without the country submitting to the same tests under the same criteria as other applicants.

JEF-Europe strongly regrets:

1. the outbreak of war in Iraq and a lack of a diplomatic solution to the crisis

2. that a small number of countries have engaged in and supported military action without a specific UN mandate

3. the profound damage that has been inflicted on the relevance of international law as a result of deep political divisions within the UN and the European Union

4. that the common EU position on the Iraq crisis has been weak, did not deal with the main issues at stake and has been widely disregarded, and that the EU has failed to speak with one voice in the United Nations

5. that leaders of certain EU member states have claimed to be “speaking for Europe” during this crisis while their reasons for their statements have been ones of national, not European, interest

6. the disregard of the opinion of the European citizens expressed by the European Parliament

INVITATION (please circulate as widely as possible)

Organised by Union of European Federalists (UEF) and Young European
Federalists (JEF)

A PARLIAMENTARY OR A PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM FOR EUROPE?

Invited speakers: Jo LEINEN MEP (confirmed), Goran Lennmarker, Piia Noora
KAUPPI MEP, Andrew DUFF MEP, Anne Van LANCKER MEP

Date: Wednesday 23 April 2003, from 1900 – 2030

Venue: Eastman Building, European Parliament, Brussels

The debate is public and open to all interested persons. Registration
required at: info@jef-europe.net, tel: +32 2 5120053, fax: +32 2 6269501

Signed by:
JEF (Young European Federalists)
LYMEC (European Liberal Youth)
YEPP (Youth of the European People’s Party)
ECOSY (European Young Socialists)
AEGEE (Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l’Europe)

Dear members of the Convention,

In the coming weeks, the Convention Presidium will present to you their draft articles on the Union’s institutions.

We call on you to take into account the results of the first European Youth Convention, held last July, and present to you again our common demands for the future institutional structure of the Union. We urge you to overcome the shortcomings of today’s Union. Millions of young people in our organisations believe that the time is long overdue to transform the Union of governments into a Union of citizens. We ask nothing less than for you to build a genuine European democracy.

PRESS RELEASE

Brussels/Strasbourg, 10 April 2003

Necessary elements of direct democracy for the EU

The intergroup "European Constitution" in its meeting in Strassbourg on April 8 debated draft Articles 33-37 "Democratic Life of the Union" as proposed by the Praesidium of the Convention. These articles are a disappointment because they only repeat, by and large, articles from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the existing European Treaties. They do not envisage new forms of democratic participation of the citizens. Moreover, new media and new means of communication have been forgotten completely.