Brussels, 18/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - During its meeting at the end of last week, the Praesidium of the European Convention approved a revised version of the draft regulation that will be submitted to the plenary session on 21 and 22 March for approval. Entitled "memo on working methods" to underline that it is in no way a highly detailed drafting of a regulation as so often happens at parliamentary assemblies, the text remains of a flexible and manageable nature in order to meet the requirements of a very special kind of institution. It keeps the same structure (see EUROPE of 1 March, p.5) and continues to carefully avoid all reference to the slightest vote or to the slightest notion of quorum, in order not to undermine the rule of consensus that must prevail throughout the work of the Convention. The members of the Praesidium have, nonetheless, sought to increase the individual or collective rights of the members of the Convention and the text now stipulates that "a significant number of members" of the Convention may call for changes to be made to the agenda, suggest the constitution of a working party or propose revision of working methods. Any member (whether title-holder or substitute) may also propose that experts be called in for consultation.
Furthermore, the Praesidium reached consensus on inviting a representative of the candidate countries to its meetings. The proposal, which will be put to the plenary, should allow the national parliaments of candidate countries to designate a representative during a meeting of the college of national parliaments. It would appear that only this solution may prevail in so far as the designation of such a person by all the representatives of the candidate countries could give the impression that these countries make up a fifth element, while the participation of candidate countries (already very broad as it is a question of reforming institutions that are not yet their own) is limited in the Laeken Declaration.
The Praesidium also discussed the preparation of a Youth Convention, which could be held in July this year.
Furthermore, Vice-President Jean-Luc Dehaene issued his memo concerning the way the Forum operates. It recommends: - the creation of a Forum Internet site; - a letter being sent from Convention Chairman Giscard d'Estaing to the editorial staff of all the major European newspapers, to announce the birth of the Forum and encourage them to launch debates on the future of Europe in their columns; - the establishment of regular and coordinated contacts with the civil society; - encouraging the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the social partners to fully play their role as intermediary between the Convention and the civil society; - adoption of a structured approach for the organisation of public hearings, mainly by carefully selecting the participants in accordance to the subject to be tackled. This memo is available on the Convention's internet site.