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June 13, 2003
Convention deadlocked in the closing stage In short:
The Convention in charge of drawing up a European constitution is deadlocked over the division of powers between Member States and EU institutions.
Brief news:
The Convention Chairman Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has been meeting different group of members to try to reach an agreement at the Convention's final meeting on 13 June. Key differences that need to be resolved in time for the Convention to submit its proposals to the EU leaders at the Thessaloniki summit on 20 June are:
dropping the national veto over taxation, social welfare, foreign policy and culture;
making the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding;
extending EU competence to criminal law;
giving the EU a defence role;
reducing the voting weight of smaller Member States.
The Convention has already agreed on major changes to the way the EU is run after it enlarges to 10 new Member States in 2004. The key changes include:
creation of a new president of the European Council;
creation of a new EU foreign minister;
extension of voting by qualified majority;
doubling the powers of the European Parliament;
downsizing the European Commission.
Read the whole article from EurActiv.com
Information uploaded by Marianne Bonnard on June 13, 2003 09:48 AM
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