Dear Europeans,

With less than three weeks left to conclude their work, the Convention
members are making small and slow steps forward towards the conclusion of
their work. The previous Convention session allowed a lot of time for
discussing the draft articles on institutions and on the external action of
the Union. Nevertheless we saw more of an exchange of arguments than a real
desire to find a compromise which would please a large majority of the
Convention members. Only the Benelux proposal offered some hope that the
Convention will be able to find a compromise on institutions. More on this
proposal can be found in the summary of the Convention session, included in
this bulletin. The alternative to agreeing on a common text for the
Constitution is to leave several issues open for the Intergovernmental
Conference (IGC). For most representatives of civil society and for most
politicians in Europe, this would be an unacceptable solution.

“If the Convention members want to be funding members of something, they have to start to agree on some issues.”

[Giuliano Amato, Vice-President of the Convention in the Press Conference after the Convention meeting on 15th May 2003.]

Bruxelles, 5th April, 2003

What is your impression of the Convention so far?

It is very positive. I believe that having an open, public, and widely broadcasted debate with national parliamentarians, European parliamentarians, representatives of governments, is in itself a very democratic experiment. As far as the composition and the atmosphere of the Convention are concerned, it seems to me slightly conservative, slightly male-dominated and slightly old, but that’s the way it is. I would have preferred a composition that would have brought it closer to the European society than to the European establishment.

Draft Constitution, Volume I - Revised text of Part One

Members of the Convention will find attached the draft text of Part One of the Treaty establishing the Constitution together with that of the Protocols on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and the role of the national Parliaments, as revised by the Praesidium in the light of the comments and amendments received and the discussions in plenary.

The Articles in Title IV "The institutions" are the only ones to be sent to the members of the Convention without change from the original version contained in CONV 691/03 of 23 April 2003.

The very numerous amendments received and the comments made at the plenary on these Articles often go in opposing directions, particularly on central questions, including the three linked questions highlighted in the note of 23 April (representation in the European Parliament, definition of the qualified majority, and composition of the Commission). The Praesidium therefore thinks it would be appropriate to devote more time to discussion and thought on those subjects.

At a later stage, as these thoughts mature, the Praesidium will submit a revised version of Title IV to the Convention.

To see all revised articles of part one which have been drafted by the Presidium, click: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00724en03.pdf.

PART ONE - THE COURT OF JUSTICE

Article 20

Article 20: The Court of Justice of the European Union

1. The Court of Justice, including the High Court, shall ensure respect for the Constitution and Union law.
Member States shall provide rights of appeal sufficient to ensure effective legal protection in the field of Union law.

2. The Court of Justice shall consist of one judge from each Member State, and shall be assisted by Advocates-General. The High Court shall include at least one judge per Member State: the number shall be fixed by the Statute of the Court of Justice. The judges of the Court of Justice and the High Court, and the Advocates-General of the Court of Justice, chosen from persons whose independence is beyond doubt and who satisfy the conditions set out at Article [XX] of Part Two, shall be appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States for a term of six years, renewable.

To see the full text of the articles, click: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00734en03.pdf.

I. MAIN ELEMENTS

The mechanism for enhanced cooperation was introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam and amended by the Treaty of Nice. It is governed by general provisions applying to all areas (Articles 43 to 45 TEU) and by specific clauses for the areas covered by the TEC (Articles 11 and 11a TEC), cooperation in criminal matters (Articles 40 to 40b TEU) and the CFSP (Articles 27a to 27e TEU). There are other forms of "enhanced cooperation" organised directly in the Treaty which are not examined in this document. These include, for example, the development of the Schengen acquis, the single currency and, in the future, defence matters.

To see the full text of the articles, click: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00723en03.pdf.

Following I would like to sum up the Convention meetings on 15th and 16th Mai 2003. After discussing the institutions of the Union the entire Thursday and als Friday morning, the Convention also focused on questions of a Common Foreign and Security Policy and Defence and Security Policy. The results in short: many well known arguments have been exchange, little new proposals have been put forward and compromise has been offered only occasionally.

[…]I hope you will forgive me for raising one point. Your letter suggests that it is now settled that the Charter should form Part II of the Constitution. As you know, our Government has always held the view that we could make no commitment to the incorporation of the Charter until we had sight of the whole package outlined in the recommendations of the Working Group.

To see the entire letter, click: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00736en03.pdf.

Johannes Voggenhuber, member of the European Convention, today insisted that any future European Foreign Minister should be answerable to the European Parliament. He also pleaded for the Commission's president to be elected by the European Parliament and for the European council to be chaired by the Commission's president. In amendments that Voggenhuber is presenting to the Convention, he outlines his view on the European foreign minister, the Commission's president and the European Council as follows:

This contribution is a reaction to the Praesidium's paper CONV 723/03 on enhanced cooperation. It questions the assumption that, outside the security and defence dimension, the Union needs enhanced cooperation provisions in its Constitution.

No debate
The Praesidium has had to formulate its position on the complex issues involved in enhanced cooperation without the benefit of a proper debate in either the plenary or a working group.
Although there seems to be wide agreement in the Convention that an avant-garde should be permitted to form in the area of security and defence policy, one has not detected the same enthusiasm for differentiated integration as far as the traditional first or third pillars are concerned.
Indeed, there seems to be widespread support for the notion of striving for greater solidarity and cohesion. The constitutionalisation of the Union militates against the plethora of opt-outs and derogations that have so cluttered the existing Treaties since Maastricht. Constitutionalisation strengthens the ties that bind, and requires greater respect for the principles of equal treatment of the citizens and states.

To see the entire contribution, click: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00759en03.pdf.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's decision to invite Romano Prodi to an open public debate about the Future of Europe must be welcomed as a major effort to bring the debates of the Convention into the wider public sphere.

"The bad news for Giscard is that the people support Prodi!" stated Alison Weston, President of JEF-Europe (Young European Federalists) As part of the activities of JEF across the continent to celebrate Europe Day on 9th May, JEF tested public opinion, asking whether citizens would support the idea of a European Federal Constitution.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, 22 May 2003
Contact: Jorge Cámara, tel: 32 2 286 94 17 mobile: 32 4 73 773 442

On 20-21 May, the Youth Convention Presidium along with the European Youth Forum organised a follow-up meeting in the European Parliament in Brussels. The objective was to assess the draft Constitutional Treaty in the light of the proposals and demands made by young people in the European Youth Convention of July 2002. The final results of the Youth Convention follow-up meeting will be presented to the European Convention Presidium and Members.

A. Introduction

Based on its mandate given by the European Council in Laeken, the European Convention (along with the European Parliament, the European Commission and many of the present and future Members States) has sought over the past months to actively involve young people in the further construction and reform of the European Union.

In addition to adopting a document full of concrete ideas and constructive proposals, the European Youth Convention of July 2002 has stimulated extensive debates among many young people on local, regional and national levels, in a variety of youth events on the future of Europe, including national youth conventions.

Drawing on the discussions we have previously participated in —be it within the Youth Convention, the Contact Group of youth NGOs, as well as regional and national conventions— and the results of these discussions, we, forty young people from all over Europe, have gathered for two days in order to assess the work of the European Convention and the proposals for the future European Constitution.

To see the final document, Download file.

EUROPA JUNG UND SCHNELL – In Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

BRÜSSEL, 23. Mai. Worauf mehr als 200 gestandene Parlamentarier, EU-Kommissare und Regierungsvertreter bereits seit 16 Monaten mühsam im Europäischen Reformkonvent hinarbeiten, haben 40 junge Europäer in Rekordzeit vollbracht. In zwei Sitzungstagen erzielten sie Einvernehmen über den Inhalt einer Verfassung, welche die künftige politische und institutionelle Gestalt der erweiterten Europäischen Union vorgeben soll.

We, the Greek members of the Youth Convention, after several meetings, round tables and consultations with youth political organisations, student associations and youth NGOs have concluded to the below proposals, which have been approved during a conference held at Zappeion Megaron, Athens, 19 March 2003, under the auspice of the Greek Presidency.

“The public debate on the future of Europe in general and the work of the Convention in particular, has been going on for some time in the media, in conferences and debates organised by governmental and non-governmental organisations, among politicians and simple citizens. It is sometimes highly optimistic, sometimes critical, sometimes pessimistic or just negative. The fact is, that it is always a reaction on an event that already has taken place, an analysis of decisions already made.

Introduction

"The Union needs to be more democratic, more transparent and more efficient. It also has to resolve three basic challenges: how to bring citizens, and primarily the young, closer to the European design and the European institutions, how to organise politics and the European political area in an enlarged Union and how to develop the Union into a stabilising factor and a model in the new, multipolar world."
From the 'Laeken Declaration on the Future of the European Union'

Considering that the European Convention has finally enabled the creation of a forum of debate in which the actors of civil society can express their views and present their contributions in a coherent and articulate way;

Bearing in mind that, for this purpose, the Convention has convened, on July 2002, a European Youth Convention, which gathered 210 young people, including eight Portuguese young people, who had the opportunity to start and develop a project that will bring the European youth closer to the project of European construction;

To see the final document, Download file

The European Convention – FEMYSO’s Contribution

The Muslim Europeans represented by FEMYSO are not indifferent to the multiple debates that are livening up the Convention about the Union’s values.

Numerous Europeans are in favour of a clear mention of the spiritual values as founding and determining in the, if not passed at least future, construction of the Union. However, we are not less aware that some are attempting to instrumentalise some of those fantasized values in the vain hope of building up an ideological barrier to the entry of South-East European countries in the Union, negating consequently the hundreds of years presence of Muslim communities on the geographical territory of Europe (Spain, Balkans, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Ukraine…).

To see the final document, Download file.

Brussels, 14 May 2003

Statement on the institutional architecture of the draft Constitution

On the eve of the debate in the European Convention on draft articles on Institutions*, FEDERALIST VOICE, network of 14 European organizations (see hereafter the list) in favour of a European Constitution, acknowledges that the new method of the Convention has already overcome many of the defects of the intergovernmental negotiations but nevertheless regrets that the draft of the Convention is still far from producing a federal Constitution to provide Europe with democratic foundations and the capacity to act efficiently, to face the challenges of enlargement and of the new world disorder;

15 May 2003

The Intergroup "European Constitution" which unites 220 Members of the European Parliament from 5 political groups, debated the proposals of the Convention Praesidium on the Institutions of the EU during its meeting on May 14th.

The European Parliamentarians reject the proposal by the Praesidium to install the European Council as a new institution. The bulk of the criticism was aimed at a full-time president of the European Council. The Members of the European Parliament fear that this would mean shifting the balance of power in the Union towards the Council and a gouvernementalisation of EU politics. An elected Council president could not be controlled by either the national parliaments or the European Parliament. This proposal exacerbates the democratic deficit in the EU rather than improving the Union's democracy, said the deputies.

We, the citizens of the Union, propose a different agenda for the Constitution of the Union

Mister Prime Minister, Mister Minister of the Foreign Affairs,

Coming from different areas of the European associative life and being actively involved in the debate over Europe's future, we don't want to experience again what happened on the occasion of the Intergovernmental Conferences in Amsterdam and Nice.

Brussels, 7 May 2003

The Socialist Group in dialogue with Civil Society

MINUTES

of the meeting on Tuesday, 6 May 2003 in the European Parliament

Opening remarks

Pervenche BERÈS, Vice-Chair of the PES Group responsible for relations between the Group and the Civil Society Forum of the European Convention, welcomed participants (including many PES Group Observers) to the fifth PES Group seminar with Civil Society. Over 100 people attended, including most of the PES Observers from the new Member States. Pervenche BERÈS said that the Convention had now reached a stage where we can have a global discussion of the content of the Constitution. We want an inclusive process that allows a place for everyone in the Union, based not on the rule of the strongest but on the rule of law.

The Federal Committee of the UEF meeting at Otzenhausen on 17-18 May 2003,

Responsibility of the Convention

1. Welcomes the progress in the European Convention towards presenting a draft constitution in a single document and believes that the experience of conducting the Convention debate in public, including elected parliamentarians from both the European and national parliaments, has been a positive one.

2. Regrets nevertheless that the Convention has failed so far to draft a fully-fledged federal constitution to make the Union more democratic and capable of effective action, able to face the challenges of enlargement and of the new world disorder.

To see the full resolution, Download file.

Reconnecting Europe with its Citizens

Federalists’ Position for the Adoption and the Amending of the European Constitution

The Federal Committee of the UEF meeting at Otzenhausen on 17-18 May 2003,

[…] has adopted the following resolution:

PART I: A Democratic Procedure for the Adoption of the European Constitution

If the Convention drafts a true European Constitution it should be submitted to a Europe-wide vote simultaneously with the elections to the European Parliament on 10-13 June 2004; such a vote would allow a true European debate on the merits of the Constitution. Isolated national referenda could be held hostage to national political debates raising the danger of negative outcomes because of purely internal reasons.

To see the full document, Download file