Paris, 18/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - A press release has indicated that the President of the Convention on the future of Europe, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, is holding meetings in Stockholm on 18 February, at the urgent request of Prime Minister Göran Persson. Mr Giscard d'Estaing had a working meeting in the morning with Lena Hjelm-Wallén, Deputy Prime Minister and representative of the Swedish government at the Convention and then a working-lunch with Göran Persson and Lars Danielsson, Secretary of State for European Affairs.
The President of the European Parliament's Liberal group, Graham Watson, told journalists (see separate article) that he would be convening a meeting in Brussels on 28 February of all the Liberal members of the Convention. He explained that the Liberals were well represented on the Convention by, for example, MEP Andrew Duff, and the former European Commissioner Henning Christophersen.
The British government representative on the Convention, Peter Hain, told the BBC that the UK could agree to the Charter of Fundamental Rights being incorporated into the Treaty, but "If it meant we would have it as an alternative to the Convention on Human Rights… then you'd have to be very careful about that. If it could be enforceable in British courts, we would find that extremely difficult". The Financial Times reports that the Foreign Office Secretary Jack Straw will be outlining Britain's approach to the Convention in a speech in The Hague on Thursday and was expected to push the case for a charter of competencies but was backing away from a second chamber composed of national parliamentarians. Early drafts of his speech suggest that he is considering options such as allowing Council of Ministers to elect their President for two years, instead of the rotating six month Presidency.