Brussels, 17/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - Before holding the plenary debate on the Laeken Summit (see above), the presidents of the two largest groups at the European Parliament welcomed the content of the Laeken Declaration and the setting in place of the Convention. They recalled that their groups had fought for such an innovation for a long while.
The EPP Group had proposed the creation of a Convention at the EPP Congress end January in Berlin, Hans-Gert Pöttering told the press. He recalled that Valéry Giscard d'Estaing had been MEP (and that he was the author of a report on subsidiarity). In answer to questions on the former French President's age, Mr Pöttering said it is preferable to have someone of his age but who is a European at heart and has a clear head. The EPP-ED Group will have 6 members out of the 16 MEPs within the Convention, he pointed out, specifying that they will no doubt be designated during the meeting of the group on 7-8 January next. Inigo Mendez de Vigo "ranks first" among those that could represent the EPP within the Convention's Praesidium, but the various national groups have not yet expressed their wishes, said Mr Pöttering. Furthermore, he confirmed his intention to create within the Convention a sort of "political fraction" allowing the members of "our political family" to be brought together from the European Parliament and the national parliaments, and his intention to give the work of the Convention a "parliamentarised" form. The CDU member invited the Member State governments to designate as their representatives at the Convention "political personalities" who are expected to have frequent contacts with them.
Commenting on the choice of a "trinity" to chair the Convention, the president of the Socialist Group, Enrique Baron, hoped that there would not be the creation of a "directorate" within the Praesidium, which must work "as a college". Regarding the designation of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, he said he had spoken with the latter on the phone. "I told him that he was not my choice of candidate, and he replied that he was not so very far from me", said Mr Baron (recalling that, at the European Parliament, Mr Giscard d'Estaing "went through two groups" (he was President of the Liberal Group and member of the EPP Group). The Socialist Group should be entitled to 5 members within the Convention, and my proposal for our representative within the Praesidium will be to designate Klaus Hänsch, explained the elected member of the Spanish Socialist Party in response to questions put to him. Mr Baron pointed out moreover that his group has already practised the "political fraction" method between MEPs and national MPs during the work of the Convention that drafted the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and that they intend to continue to do so within the Convention that is to prepare new reforms.