Brussels, 11/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - As predicted, the Spanish Partido Popular member Inigo Mendez de Vigo, and German Social Democrat Klaus Hänsch have been designated by the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament as members of the fifteen-member Presidium for the Convention that is to prepare the next reform of the EU (the other members are President Giscard d'Estaing, Vice-Presidents Jean-Luc Dehaene and Giuliano Amato, European Commissioners Michel Barnier and Antonio Vitorino, two representatives from national parliaments and a representative for each of the three successive Presidencies of the EU Council (Spanish, Danish and Greek). The Parliament hopes to be able to designate its other members of the Convention (16 in all) during the Conference of Presidents on Thursday, in Strasbourg.
Partido popular member Inigo Mendez de Vigo, who was designated as representative of the EPP-ED at the Presidium of the Convention chaired by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4), hoped that "we shall succeed in creating the same European spirit" that had made it possible to draft the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Mr Mendez de Vigo, who was Deputy Chairman of the Convention that drafted the Charter and who is a member of the Council for the debate on the future of Europe created in Spain under the Aznar government, affirmed that the future Convention will allow "debate on any subject" and "there will be no taboo subjects". On the basis of these proposals, the Intergovernmental Conference should adopt "constitutional decisions".
Klaus Hänsch, who was President of the European Parliament from July 1994 to January 1997, declared that "within the Convention, it is not only a question of vision but also of responsibility for the future of Europe". He welcomed the fact that "for the first time, the public will participate in reform through hearings" and that, for the first time, there will be the chance of "carrying out reform work that will result in a European Constitution".
As for the composition of the Convention, the conclusions of the Summit of Laeken state that as well as the President and two Vice Presidents, the Convention will be composed of 15 representative Heads of State or governments from Member States, 30 members from the national parliaments, 16 members from the EP and tow from the Commission. We do know, however, that Guy Verhofstadt has accepted that Vice President Dehaene is among the members from the Belgian national delegation, whereas Silvio Berlusconi is keen to have a representative from his government, even if Giuliano Amato is Vice President (the issue is due to be tackled by the Council on 28 January). Candidate countries (including Turkey) will each have one government and two parliamentary representatives. There will also be observers: 6 from the Committee of the Regions, 3 from the Economic and Social Committee, 3 social partners and the European Mediator.