Dear Europeans,

After politicians, citizens and civil society activists have had a long period to study the Convention’s Constitution over the summer months, the Constitutional process will now go into the next stage. On Friday 3 October, the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) will formally be opened. The European heads of state and government have the task to debate the Convention’s final result. The outcome of the IGC will then need to be ratified by all member states. Following the tradition created at the beginning of the Convention process, this bulletin will carefully follow the debates and will give a forum for civil society and political institutions to comment on the proceedings of the IGC. In this first IGC Bulletin you will find several documents, such as the Citizen’s guide from the Commission, which explains the IGC process.

"We should not start unravelling the Convention's suggestion because the Convention has already considered and examined every alternative in detail. We could make a dozen suggestions to the Convention text, but this would be a waste of time. [The result would be a] mammoth, but incoherent work".

[Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt in an interview with the Financial Times Germany, 26th September2003]

The European Commission is pleased to present the citizen ’s guide intended to explain the draft Constitution for Europe,as drawn up by the Convention and presented to the Thessaloniki European Council on 20 June 2003.

The draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe is divided into four parts, dealing respectively with the constitutional architecture of the European Union,the incorporation of the Union ’s Charter of Fundamental Rights,the policies and operation of the Union and,lastly,general and final provisions.

The citizen ’s guide is intended to explain the contribution made by the draft Constitution in the light of the requirements set out in the Declaration on the Future of the European Union adopted at Laeken:open the way towards a Constitution in order to respond to the expectations of European citizens and make the European Union more democratic,transparent and efficient.

To read the Citizen’s Guide, click: [Download file].

The Civil Society Contact Group has just published 'The IGC toolkit' as part of its act4europe campaign. The toolkit is available for download at
http://www.act4europe.org/code/en/news.asp?id_events=19.

Published on the eve of the Intergovernmental Conference, which will agree a Constitution for the EU, the toolkit gives civil society activists all the information you need to keep up the pressure on the EU's leaders to deliver a Constitution which matches the expectations of civil society.

The Futurum website has published a power-point presentation on the draft Constitution as well as information tools and links towards useful documents at the following address: http://europa.eu.int/futurum/comm/index_en.htm

The Newsletter of the Helenic Centre for European Studies will be covering the workings of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for the final processing and adoption of the European Constitution, the general debate about the Future of Europe, as well as fundamental developments in the European Union. Besides an interesting history and summary of previous IGC, it also manages to explain in easy language the proceedings of the coming IGC, as well as giving some opinions on several constitution articles.

To read the newsletter, click: [Download file].

JEF Europe is alarmed by the proposals of some European governments to reopen the compromise established in the Constitutional Convention. Alison Weston, President of the Young European Federalists (JEF), stated, “Intergovernmental Conferences have historically shown themselves to be ineffective and incapable of delivering real democratic improvements to the European Union. Reopening the Convention’s compromise, which gathered broad support from all sides, risks delivering Nice II: a bad atmosphere and a bad result, damaging public confidence in the European project.”
While the Young European Federalists are disappointed with some proposals made by the Convention, it believes strongly that the final text should be accepted by the IGC. “The Convention was an open process based on consultation and transparency, which put the citizen at the heart of the debate. In contrast, the IGC is a place where governments fight for symbolic power-gains behind closed doors, leaving the needs of the citizens behind,” Alison Weston continued. “We expect our governments to accept this Constitution, and to ensure a public information campaign to bring this debate to the citizens of Europe.”

On the Homepage of ECOSY www.ecosy.org you have the chance to participate in an online poll and answer the question: If the final document of the Convention is re-opened during the IGC, do you believe the result of the governmental level discussions will be: a) Worse, b) Better or c) Without difference. Take part and make your opinion be heard.

Opinion of the Commission, pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaty on European Union, on the Conference of representatives of the Member States’ governments convened to revise the Treaties

Introduction

The “draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe” prepared by the Convention is designed to replace the Treaties on which the Union is based, and thus follows a constitutional course. It is therefore a key step in European integration, which still preserves the achievements of 50 years of integration. The institutional architecture remains essentially rooted in the Community method, the scope of which has been extended.

To read the Communication of the Commission, click: [Download file].

To read the French version, click: [Download file].

In Erwägung nachstehender Gründe:

Die Bürger, die Parlamente, die Regierungen, die Parteien – in den Mitgliedstaaten sowie auf europäischer Ebene – sowie die Institutionen der Union haben Anspruch darauf, am demokratischen Prozess der Verfassungsgebung für Europa mitzuwirken. Das Europäische Parlament nimmt deshalb mit dieser Entschließung eine Bewertung des vom Konvent zur Zukunft Europas ausgearbeiteten Entwurfes einer Verfassung vor.

To read the entire draft resolution in English, click: [Download file].

To read the entire draft resolution in German, click: [Download file]

The PES Group's delegation to the Convention has made every effort to strengthen the Union's social dimension, its democratic character and openness and the involvement of Civil Society and social partners in the democratic life of the Union. We have contributed to major improvements to the Constitution.

We have strengthened the Union's social model

The Convention Working Group on Social Europe was set up at our initiative, giving a focal point to social issues and allowing positive conclusions to be reached:
• We obtained the integration of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, including
its body of social rights.
• We obtained the addition of equality, solidarity and non-discrimination among
the Union's values.

To read the entire document, click: [Download file].

Strassbourg, 4 September 2003

Message to the IGC: Do not go back on Convention Consensus – Eliminate the veto right for future reforms

Monica Frassoni MEP, Co-President of the Green/EFA group, entreated European leaders not to retreat from the consensus reached by the Convention on the Future of Europe during the Strasbourg plenary session today. She added that the way to improve on the issues that the Convention was not able to solve was to remove the veto right on future reforms and to give the European Parliament ratification powers.

Gemeinsame Positionen von CDU und CSU zur Regierungskonferenz über den EU-Verfassungsvertrag

29. September 2003

I.
CDU und CSU begrüßen die Vorlage des Entwurfs für eine Verfassung der Europäischen Union durch den Konvent. Der Konvent trägt in wesentlichen Punkten die Handschrift von CDU und CSU. Die Vorschläge des Konvents zur Weiterentwicklung der europäischen Integration kommen dem Ziel einer handlungsfähigeren, transparenteren und demokratischeren Gemeinschaft näher. Zu begrüßen sind insbesondere die institutionellen Reformvorschläge. CDU und CSU sehen hierin einen wichtigen Schritt zur Vorbereitung der Erweiterung, der allerdings den Reformbedarf der Europäischen Union in wesentlichen Fragen nicht vollständig behebt.

To read the entire document, click: [Download file].

Une conférence en le Mardi 9 septembre 2003 a marqué le lancement d’une campagne de sensibilisation de l’AFEM dans le cadre de la campagne transnationale "ACT 4 EUROPE" du groupe de contact de la société civile, afin notamment :

I. Que l’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes figure expressément au nombre des valeurs de l’Union européenne.

Cette proposition a été formulée par le groupe de travail "Europe sociale" de la Convention, par la Présidence hellénique et le Réseau de Commissions parlementaires pour l’égalité de chances pour les femmes et les hommes dans l’UE. Elle a fait l’objet d’un vaste rassemblement de la Société civile, à l’initiative de la Ligue hellénique pour les droits des femmes, l’Alliance internationale des femmes, l’Association européenne des femmes juristes (EWLA) et de l’AFEM (200 ONG internationales, européennes et nationales, féminines et mixtes), et a rallié le groupe de contact de la société civile (qui est composé des plus grandes plates-formes d’ONG européennes et la Confédération européenne de syndicats) ; la Convention des jeunes ; le Mouvement européen/international et autres. En dépit de cette mobilisation, cette proposition s’est heurtée au refus de la Convention.

Au lendemain du Sommet européen de Thessalonique, la presse unanime a salué la performance du Président Giscard d’Estaing, qui en alliant subtilement les stratégies de la tortue et du dragon, est parvenu à faire avaliser, comme "base de départ" des travaux de la Conférence Intergouvernementale (CIG), le "projet de traité instituant une Constitution pour l’Europe", tel qu’élaboré par la Convention sous sa présidence, avec l’ambition de définir ce qu’est l’Europe, ce qu’elle veut faire, et comment.

L’essentiel des débats a tourné autour du "Comment". Nous n’en traiterons pas ici, les questions institutionnelles, avec tous les enjeux de pouvoir qu’elles comportent, ayant déjà fait l’objet de nombreuses analyses.

C’est sur la question de l’identité européenne, des droits qui la caractérisent et des valeurs qui la définissent, que nous souhaitons évoquer quelques points dont la presse a peu traité, et sur lesquels la Convention nous paraît avoir commis deux erreurs politiques majeures, en refusant d’écouter les objurgations de la société civile.

In the 17th Edition of « Demain L’Europe » you can find some interesting analysis of the last ammendments to the Constitution, especially involving comments on social and economic policy. Demain L’Europe is a newsletter of the Confederation of European trade unions and the European Trade Union institute.

To read the newsletter, click: [Download file].

Dear Members of the IGC

Now that the European constitutional convention has completed its work, responsibility for the text passes to the Intergovernmental Conference. Representatives of the 25 member state governments will meet over a period of several months to review the draft constitution, along with representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament.

With "Ten Questions on Europe", the federalist but anonymous (but according to the information given by the editor to the Bulletin quoitidien Europe they are European civil servants and some of them are close to the European Convention), authors hoped to make their "contribution to the institutional debate". Among the questions they answer skilfully, we note the following : What stage are we at with the Community of Europe, and what lessons can we draw from fifty years of history ? How can the States and populations of Europe become involved in building Europe in the 21st century ? But their writings mainly target the European Commission, which it accuses of having invented "Penelope" in order to "clouded the issue to help them get away with it". And it is in answer to this draft European Constitution, and to the one that has come from the Convention in the meantime, that the authors propose their federalist alternative, named "Ulysses".

The document can be ordered from PICA S.A. - Rue de Haerne 82, B-1040 Bruxelles, priced at 8 EUR (Tel.: +32-2.640 47 00 - Fax : +32-2.644 23 33)
Email : pica@pica.be

Source: Bulletin Quotidien Europe