Brussels, 17/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Ghent European Council of 19 October (which will not be attended by Foreign Ministers, apart from the President of the General Affairs Council, Louis Michel) will only discuss the most pressing current events - combating terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan - over dinner. In his letter to Council participants, Guy Verhofstadt writes (unofficial translation):
"I am delighted to invite you to Ghent on 19 October at 14: 00 hrs for an informal meeting of Heads of State. The meeting will take place at Abbaye Saint-Pierre.
After the traditional 'family photo', scheduled for 14: 30 hrs, we will exchange opinions with Nicole Fontaine, President of the European Parliament.
I then plan to raise the introduction of the euro. In this connection, I have invited the President of the ECOFIN Council, Minister Reynders, the President of the European Central Bank, Mr Duisenberg, and Commissioner Solbes to present a progress report on preparations for releasing notes and coin into circulation. This should enable us to assess measures taken in this area and give the appropriate impulse, where necessary. It will also give us the opportunity to assess the economic situation after the 11 September events. (In terms of preparing for the changeover to the euro, see EUROPE of 10 October, p.6, and EUROPE Documents No. 2252 of 11 October).
After this discussion, we will consider the debate on the future of Europe and the Laeken Declaration. I will introduce the subject by touching on the philosophy, broad themes and structure of the Declaration. I will invite Minister Michel, President of the General Affairs Council, to report on progress in the General Affairs Council, particularly concerning the Convention. Finally, I propose to develop, as an example, a framework to guide reflection on the question of power sharing. (See EUROPE of 8/9 October, p.6, and 12 October, p.5, on the Convention.)
At 20: 00 hrs, during the dinner following the Presidency's press conference, we will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and the role of the European Union and the United Nations. In this connection, we could also start discussing the war against terrorism and the implementation of our action plan. Minister Michel will present a report on the topic after the special meeting of the General Affairs Council on 17 October.
Finally, we will look at progress in the enlargement negotiations, on the basis of a European Commission information note on the mid-term assessment of the application of the enlargement strategy." (See EUROPE of 6 October, p.9, in this connection.)
Future of Europe: Commission stresses Convention's role
In terms of the future of Europe, President Prodi, with the agreement of Commissioner Barnier, presented the Council with an internal note giving an assessment of the debate and noting that the Belgian Presidency was both "ambitious and realistic". The note highlighted that having "various sources of legitimacy" represented on the future Convention could be important "in the perspective of ratifying the new Treaty". He commented that some Member States were calling for a six-month safety margin between the end of the Convention and the beginning of the IGC. The Commission feels that this period should not be too long since otherwise the results of the Convention would be forgotten. In terms of candidate countries' observer status at the Convention, he signalled that Turkey would have the same "active observer' status as the candidate countries that have already started negotiating.
Food Safety Authority: Some countries want the Summit to decide
Some Member States are still hoping that the decision of where the headquarters of the future European Food Safety Authority should be based will be taken by the Ghent Summit. Pierre Mauroy, commenting on Lille's application, explained that he was confident and hoped that the decision would be taken as soon as possible, in other words on Friday in Ghent. Finland is also confident (Parma, Barcelona and Helsinki have also been put forward) because the Gothenburg Summit (that was unable to adopt the "package" following the objections posed by Portugal and the Netherlands) referred to the conclusions of the December 1992 Edinburgh Summit that stipulated that when deciding where to locate the headquarters of new EU agencies, priority should be given to Member States that do not yet have an agency (namely Finland and Sweden).