Brussels, 15/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The President of the EU Council of Ministers, Jose Maria Aznar, will speak at the official inauguration ceremony of the European Convention on the future of Europe, to be held in the afternoon of 28 February at the European Parliament in Brussels. The Convention spokesperson Nikolas Meyer-Landrut announced this on Friday when he informed journalists of the main outcome of the informal meetings on Thursday between he Chairman of the Convention, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, with the two Vice-Chairmen, Jean-Luc Dehaene and Giuliano Amato, and then with Klaus Hänsch, one of the European Parliament's two representatives on the Convention Presidium. The 28 February inauguration ceremony will not be a "working meeting", explained Mr Meyer-Landrut, adding that the highlight would be the speeches by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, and the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. The meeting will be open to the public (as will all the Convention sessions) and will be attended by the members of the Convention, alternative and observers. Before the ceremony, an informal dinner will be held for people to get to know each other, explained the spokesperson, refusing to be fazed by sarcastic comments about the number of people who would be sitting around the dinner table.
Before the 28 February (probably on 22 and 27) Valéry Giscard d'Estaing will informally meet with the members who have already been appointed, explained Mr Meyer-Landrut, hoping that by then, national parliaments would have selected their Presidium representatives (see EUROPE of 13 February, p.5, for the comments by the President of the Socialist group at the European Parliament, Enrique Baron, on this issue).
The spokesperson pointed out that the Thursday meetings had covered the setting up of a forum for contact between the Convention and civil society, but it would be for the Convention itself to decide how such liaison would operate (the Laeken Declaration foresaw the setting up of a "structured network"). He did not rule out the possibility of the first Convention working meeting being held on 1 March.
Four MEPs to be on the Presidium
The Greek government has selected PASOK MEP Giorgios Katiforis to represent it on the Presidium, so the Presidium's twelve members include four MEPs - Inigo Mendez de Vigo, Klaus Hänsch, Giorgios Katiforis and the Partido Popular MEP Ana Palacio Vallelersundi (for the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers).
The Cypriot parliament has nominated its two representatives - Panayiotis Dimitriou and Eleni Mavrou (see EUROPE of 13 February, p.6, for the other candidate countries).