The Laeken Declaration includes three parts.

Part one is entitled: “Europe at a Crossroads”, which is a short analysis of the state of the EU at the moment. It identifies the challenges facing the EU and sums up “the expectations of Europe’s citizens”.

Part two is much more important. This focuses on “Challenges and Reforms in a Renewed Union”, and formulates the objectives and aims of the Convention. It presents a list of questions which the Convention is supposed to answer, which are grouped into four topics: competencies, “simplification of the Union’s instruments”, “more democracy, transparency and efficiency in the EU”, and “towards a Constitution for European citizens”. The Convention has an open mandate, but it is likely to stick closely to the guidelines of this second chapter of the Declaration. As the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt explained, several of the future members of the Presidium of the Convention were involved in the drafting of the Laeken Declaration and can be expected to work closely to its outlines.

The third part addresses the composition of the Convention in more detail.