Strasbourg, 18/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Liberal Group of the European Parliament adopted a declaration on the Laeken Summit which above all insists on the role of the Convention that is to prepare the next IGC. It also calls on the European Council to let the Convention elect its own Chairman from a short list put forward by the Council of high profile personalities with experience in European affairs. According to the declaration, the Convention should be able to establish its own working methods, and the ELDR representatives at the Convention undertake to work towards: - dividing the treaty into a "fundamental Law" including "constitutional provisions - including the Charter of Fundamental Rights - and a second part" that is easier to amend; - reforming the Treaty's revision procedures so that unanimity and national ratification are only required for the fundamental Law and "questions of fundamental national interest", and ensuring that the European Parliament is always involved; - redefining the powers of the Union in order to reassure Member States and regional entities with constitutional attributions about their respective competences (it would also be necessary to attribute certain responsibilities to the regions regarding the decentralised implementation of common policies, states the declaration); - reinforcing the Court of Justice; - addressing the imperfections of earlier treaties, such as the division into three pillars and the excessively complicated wordings of the Treaty of Nice concerning the decision-making process in Council; - introducing a hierarchy of norms; - making national parliaments take part in the European process (mainly in areas such as defence policy, where the main powers are atrributed to the national level); - developing the role of the European Commission regarding initiatives and the implementation of internal and external policies; - giving the EU a full legal personality, which should adhere to the European Convention on Human Rights; - giving the European Parliament full budgetary powers (and therefore also powers regarding compulsory spending), giving it assent on trading policy, allowing it to play a role in the initiation of any "form of differentiated integration" between Member States, strengthening its right to make legislative proposals, and allowing it to decide where its own seat should be located.
Furthermore, the Liberals announce that they plan, during the European election campaign in June 2004, to designate a candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission.