Brussels, 27/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the first meeting of the Convention on the future of Europe, the Members of the Praesidium met yesterday afternoon to make the final changes to the draft timetable and Rules of Procedure that they had been given last Friday. The initial draft of the Rules of Procedure (which has a very "presidential" character) is expected to be modified, as is the timetable, since most Members feel that not enough meetings have been scheduled.
In the draft Rules of Procedure, the Secretariat followed Chairman Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's suggestion of calling the Praesidium a "Bureau", but the text that will be presented to the Convention on Thursday is reported to use the term used in the Laeken Declaration, that has also been used in preparing for the European Council and was used by the preceding Convention that prepared the draft Charter of Fundamental Rights. EUROPE understands that several Praesidium Members see the term "Bureau" as an attempt to reduce the status of the group to the advantage of the Chairman, since the latter was not very convincing when he said that he simply found the word "Praesidium" an ugly word in French. There is still widespread fear in the Convention's ranks of "presidentialisation". This concern has been expressed by various MEPs, like the ÖVP's Reinhard Rack who slammed the Chairman Convention's attitude of "Europe is me" in a press release. Various other amendments to the draft Rules of Procedure were necessary to return to the letter and spirit of the Laeken Declaration. The draft text gave broad decision-making powers to the Chairman, but the latest changes mean he would have to report to the Praesidium on issues like expert hearings. The changes also give the Convention the option of amending the agenda if it does not meet everyone's satisfaction, and of ensuring that all suggestions can be taken into account. As Chairman Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's spokesperson has already indicated, there will not be any voting and attempts to change the Rules of Procedure at the meeting on Thursday evening to introduce voting are unlikely to succeed. This is also likely to be the fate of proposals aiming to extend the Rules of Procedure - some Members of the Convention, like the British Liberal Democrat Vice-President of the EP delegation, Andrew Duff, have already prepared a whole series of amendments - in order to be as flexible as possible. The Praesidium's objective is likely to be the adoption of Rules of Procedure that are flexible enough to allow the Convention to organise its work in the best possible manner and adopt to changing needs, explained a Praesidium Member, adding that they has to take account of the very few precedents in history where a body has functioned according to consensus.
In terms of the timetable, the Praesidium is likely to flesh it out, adding night and Monday and Tuesday meetings (except in March). The second Convention meeting has been scheduled for 21/22 March. The meeting will be held on 15/16 April (Monday and Tuesday) and return to Thursday and Friday in May. From June onward, the tempo will speed up with one meeting on a Monday and Tuesday and other on a Thursday and Friday. As for the draft Rules of Procedure, it will be the plenary's job to approve the timetable by consensus.
The Praesidium is also expected to decide that alongside Vice-Chairman Dehaene, one or two other Members of the Praesidium will take part in every meeting of the Civil Society Forum; Chairman Giscard d'Estaing had suggested starting the Convention's work by examining the different views of the heads of state and other politicians and institutions, most Members of the Praesidium favour a more pragmatic two-stage approach. The first stage would consist of hearing citizens' expectations, structuring the debate around concrete issues and examining policies that need to be strengthened or changed. This would make it possible to give Europe some sense while clarifying the EU's objectives as far as citizens were concerned before dealing with more technical and institutional aspects of reform.