Genval, 10/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - Consensus emerged over the setting up of a Convention to prepare for the future Intergovernmental Conference on institutional reform of the EU at the informal EU Foreign Ministers' meeting in Genval on 8/9 September, linked with a Civil Society Forum. Ministers also agreed in Genval on the Convention's format and the broad outline of the Laeken Declaration (after the European Summit on 14/15 December). After the meeting, the Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel explained that the Ministers would be deciding at the next General Affairs Council on 8/9 October in Luxembourg on the topics to be covered in the Convention's mandate. Ministers have not yet decided on the mechanics of how candidate countries will be associated with the Convention's work so the Genval results will be fine-tuned at the General Affairs Council with a view to presentation at the informal European summit in Ghent on 19 October, and the Laeken Summit in December.
From the guidelines put forward in a document drafted by the Belgian Presidency, the Ministers welcomed the idea of setting up a Convention made up of representatives of governments, the EP, national parliaments and the Commission, along the lines of the Convention that prepared the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Convention would be headed by both a President and a Presidium, a type of small management committee, explained the Presidency. Spain's Foreign Minister, Josep Piqué, commented that there was still disagreement between the supporters of a strong presidency with a very strong political personality and an important political mission, and other countries (like Spain) which favoured a type of presidium to direct the work in a "collegial manner".
The names of various personalities who could be appointed as President of the Convention were quoted on the fringes of the meeting, notably the former Italian Prime Minister, Giuliano Amato, the Dutch Prime Minster, Wim Kok, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Guterres. Louis Michel explained that it was always difficult to choose a president since there were so many talented individuals in Europe, emphasising that no choice had yet been made. Italy's Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero told journalists that he personally felt that Amato would make a magnificent president, not only because of the position he held in Italy, but also due to his understanding of the issues as a Councillor to the Belgian Presidency on the future of Europe. (Mr Amato is a member of the Laeken Group, Ed.) The Belgian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Annemie Neyts, suggested that journalists bear in mind the "electoral timetable", apparently alluding to the fact that Wim Kok would not be standing in the Dutch elections in May 2002, but would be remaining in the government until September 2002.
The Ministers agreed that it was necessary to get "civil society" involved in the discussions, probably in the form of a Civil Society Forum. Louis Michel indicated that the discussions were continuing, and the Ministers were seriously considering the idea of organising a Forum alongside the Convention which would include members of parliament and representatives of civil society, but it had not yet been decided how such civil society representatives would be chosen since the question of the representativity had to be settled. Annemie Neyts, who chaired the meeting on Saturday, explained that the Convention and the Forum would regularly be in contact but they would carry out different tasks. The French Foreign Minister, Hubert Védrine, said that nobody thought that civil society representatives should be included in the Convention itself because nobody knew exactly how to define the term 'civil society', but he added that the Ministers were in favour of economic actors, trade unions, associations, and the like being associated with such a Forum.
All Ministers stressed the need to get candidate countries involved in the debate over the future of Europe since, as Mr Michel noted, this will greatly affect them. Mr Védrine said that "nuances" rather than strong opposition still existed, with most Ministers wanting them to participate fully in the Convention once their Accession Agreements had been signed. He wanted them to be "consulted" from the start, and be closely associated at a later stage.
Ministers agreed that the Convention should prepare "options" for the Intergovernmental Conference rather than a turnkey text, explained Ms Neyts, to allow the IGC full freedom and responsibility to prepare and approve the document. Louis Michel said that the topics to be covered would be decided at the General Affairs Council - a decision would have to be taken on whether discussions should cover other themes than those set out by the Nice Summit (simplifying the Treaties, the status of the European Charter, the role of national parliaments and the divisions of competencies). The Italian Minister Renato Ruggiero called for a "government of the economy" to be set up, because the Euro was not only a technical issue, but was also economic and political. In a statement to the press, Mr Ruggiero declared that he had been pressing for the IGC to lead to a Constitution of a federation of United Nations.
The Belgian Presidency wanted the Convention to begin work before the end of the Spanish Presidency at the end of June 2002 and have the work finished within a year. The President of the Commission, Romano Prodi, pushed once again for the IGC to have its work finished before the beginning of the European Parliament's electoral campaign in February-March 2004, given that the elections were fixed for June. British diplomatic sources indicated that the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Scandinavian countries wanted to maintain a sufficiently lengthy period between the end of the Convention's work and that of the IGC, in order to ensure that their tasks were sufficiently distinguishable. Germany, on the other hand, wants this transmission period to be brief .
According to Louis Michel, Ministers have interpreted proposals in such a way that the future Laeken declaration will open with a balance sheet of the strengths and weaknesses of the EU in a "state of the Union" address and set out a method for working and a timetable. Mr Michel declared that having the right questions did not necessarily mean that they had all the answers.
Future of Europe Candidate countries want "equal" participation in work of future Convention
Sunday, the Ministerial dinner with Member States and Foreign Ministers from thirteen candidate countries provided the latter with an opportunity to reiterate their wish to be able to actively participate in the work of the future Convention. In a statement to the press, Pavel Telicka, Chief Negotiator for the Czech Republic, declared that it would be both completely reasonable and logical to allow candidate countries to participate on an equal footing from the very beginning in the work of the Convention, given that they hope to be a member of the Union in 2004 when the Intergovernmental Governmental Conference opens. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the Estonian Minister for Foreign Affairs, declared that it was crucial for candidate countries to fully take part in the work of the Convention as "we have something to say". In a statement to the press, Mr Ilves declared that he could understand why some countries in the EU consider it necessary to limit the free circulation of workers from future new members but he thought that the EU ought not to impose restrictions on the free circulation of ideas. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, the Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs emphasised the unity of candidate countries on this question. Speaking at the end of the meeting, he claimed that all the candidate countries had insisted on the importance of future Member States being at the negotiating table from the beginning as equals, when discussing the future of Europe, because it was also their future they were discussing. The Polish Minister said that this issue provided the Union with an extraordinary opportunity for sending a clear message of confidence and co-operation to future members of the Union, as well as providing an informal forum that would not be subject to any particular intra-Community rules. Dimitij Rupel, the Slovene Minister for Foreign Affairs, insisted that this participation must be "equal" (to current Member States) at least at the moment a candidate country signs its Accession Treaty (the more advanced countries like Slovenia hope to be able to this at the end of 2002). Mr Bartoszewki observed that the reaction of current Member States had been "positively polite". At the final press conference, Acting President of the Council, Louis Michel was rather vague on the question of how candidate countries might participate at the Convention. He said that it would be "abnormal" for future members to not be associated with the work, as it also concerned their future.