Brussels, 06/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - As we predicted (see EUROPE of 1 March, p.4), the public debate on the future of Europe will be launched in Brussels on 7 March, by Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, President of the European Council of the EU, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who is to chair the European Council in the second half of the year, and the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. The European Parliament will be represented by David Martin, Vice-President. Commissioner Michel Barnier, responsible for institutional reform, will also be present. The debate, provided for by the Declaration of Nice on Europe's future, will be inaugurated at the European School at 14.30 hrs., and students, from all European Union countries, have been invited to ask questions and actively take part in the debate, says a Council press release.
Also on 7 March, Euro-MPs Alain Lamassoure (French, EPP) and Jo Leinen (German, Social-Democrat) will, on behalf of the Animation Committee of the European Constitution Intergroup, present an Appeal at the European Parliament in Brussels, at 10.00 hrs, "to all parliamentarians and citizens (…) to reshape the Union of Europe". The European Constitution Intergorup, which brings together over 180 MEPs from the main political groups in the European Parliament, considers that the Treaty of Nice "is taking us in the wrong direction", and pleads in favour of the drawing up and adoption of a Constitution.