On 21 September, during the Italian-German Summit that took place in Berlin, La Republica and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published an article signed by the Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato and the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, which underlined their determination to support the French Presidency so that the European Council in Nice concludes with the success of the intergovernmental conference, and which would propose the opening of a constitutional debate in the "post Nice". Below are the main points:

"The determining issue that will present itself in Nice will be to know if we will be able to detach ourselves from the rigid principal of unanimity. Germany and Italy are, on this key issue, ready to make considerable progress: we may consider decision with qualified majority both in common foreign policy as in issues related to taxation or in areas such as justice and home affairs (…) at the same time, the Europe of the future could remain a unit capable of act at a political level only if the integration process will be more differentiated, more flexible (…) so as to enable the Member States particularly prepared for further integration to move forward in this direction. The role of "vanguard' of a group of countries - group to which Germany and Italy, countries that are among the founders of the Community, still belong - must be possible and practicable in the framework of the Treaties".

"In a second phase, after the end of Nice, we will have to take a new step: to tackle the issue of the sharing out of competencies at a European level; insert the Charter of fundamental rights into the Treaties; rearrange the Treaties and tackle the problem of the sharing out of responsibilities with the institutions in Brussels. Given the progress achieved in the European integration process, the citizens of the Union have the right to have a Constitution based on these elements, which are clear and understandable for all. In the Constitution, the responsibility of the European institutions, and their limits, must be set out in a transparent manner. This constitutional discussion "could lead to a major conference which could gather in 2004 and which should be preceded by a wide ranging public debate throughout Europe, also involving, in the correct forms, the candidate countries. We will thus propose to our colleagues, at the European Council in Nice, to take a decision in this direction as of next December".