Brussels, 12/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac specified, in the traditional letter of invitation from the president of the European Council to the Heads of State and Government, how the French EU Presidency plans to organise the work of the informal European Council in Biarritz, devoted essentially to institutional reform and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. We give below the full text of the letter from Jacques Chirac (unofficial translation):
"With the Prime Minister, I am pleased to welcome you to Biarritz on 13 and 14 October for the informal meeting of the European Council. This is the first time since Amsterdam that we are to discuss reform of the European institutions, and I trust that our indepth discussions will make it possible to open the way to an agreement in Nice. We all know that the main stake of this Intergovernmental Conference is to prepare enlargement in the best conditions possible. A Union with 27 members or more must be able to work better, be more effective and stronger than the Union of 15. This is our common goal. We must therefore meet all the conditions necessary for coming to a good agreement in December.
The two working sessions and dinner on the first day will thus be devoted to the IGC. Our meeting will begin on Friday 13 October at 10h00 with an exchange of views with the President of the European Parliament. Then, towards 10h30, I plan to proceed to a first general round the table discussion on all the items on the agenda of the IGC. I would like you not to speak for more than five minutes, concentrating on how you perceive the overall balance of negotiation and the points that are really the most important for your countries, in the knowledge that you will be able to express your views at greater length on each of these subjects later.
After this first round the table discussion, we shall be able to evoke qualified majority, before meeting for a lunch among Heads of State and Government, also attended by the President of the General Affairs Council, and during which we shall take stock of our policy towards the FRY, and, the whole of the Western Balkans. We shall also discuss the situation in the Middle East. We shall then debate the question of oil, on the basis of the Commission communication.
During the afternoon working session, we shall come back to the IGC to deal with enhanced cooperation, then the Commission and vote weighting.
Finally, during dinner, to be held between the Heads of State and Government only, we shall be able to draw the political lessons from the day's discussion and come back to the most sensitive matters, in order to facilitate the continuation of our work.
On Saturday 14 October, our work will resume at 9h30. We shall first of all discuss the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Unfortunately, President Herzog cannot be with us and so we have called on the Convention's three vice-presidents to come and report on their work. Mr Braibant would be charged with presenting the substance of work. I propose, with your agreement, to congratulate them on behalf of us all for the quality of the draft Charter. Then we could decide to invite the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament to proclaim the Charter in Nice.
I trust that we shall then have a rapid exchange of views on Article 7 of the Treaty of European Union and the respect of fundamental principles, based on the different proposals presented.
We could then note the report by the Commission on maritime safety.
We shall end with a summary of our work and a definition of the common elements of communication.
After the meeting and the press conference, it is my intention that we should meet for lunch with President Kostunica, in order to welcome him into the European family and examine, with him, how the European Union will be able to support consolidation of the democratic process in FRY.
With the Prime Minister, I very much hope that our meeting will allow us to give determining impetus to the IGC. The success of Nice depends on that of Biarritz. I am counting on you all to make a full contribution to this success".