Brussels, 21/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The first working meeting of the Convention on the Future of Europe, devoted to hearing Members' views, began with brief and often very general declarations from the sixty-six people due to take the floor. The question of the participation of a representative of the candidate countries on the Presidium was put off until Friday morning. After opening the session with emotional condolences on the assassination of a business advisor, Marco Biagi, to the Italian government, the Convention Chairman Valéry Giscard d'Estaing launched the start of the Convention's active phase, with one eye on the expectations of citizens of the European Union who had the feeling of not being listened to about the future of Europe. The Chairman launched some questions to open the debate - what should be the European Union's main priority? Should Europe aim towards unanimity or diversity?
The first person to address the floor was German MEP Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, who said that the Convention's job was to fill the gulf between citizens and the European Union, and be an EU of work, a social EU. Alojz Peterle, a Slovenian MP, stressed the importance of the debate that was needed not for enlargement but for the European Union itself. Alain Barrau, French MP, said the Convention's three words should be reunification (of Member States and candidate countries), verification (of what they want to achieve together) and democratisation. Chrisiana Muscardini, Italian MEP, called for an independent Europe with a genuine foreign policy. Jürgen Meyer, German MP, called on the Convention to get down to debating documents very early rather than simply making general statements. Spanish MP Josep Fontelles said that the first question was "What", followed by "How" and then "Who". Andrew Duff, British Liberal MEP, called for the fundamental rights to be placed at the heart of the European integration process. He also called on the Convention (and the British government) to be "creative" rather than "on the defensive". Pierre Chevalier, speaking on behalf of the Belgian government, said that all levels of power, including intra-national power, should be involved in the European process. Erwin Teufel, German MP, wanted a list of decision-making powers to be drawn up "black on white". Jens-Peter Bonde, Danish MEP, said a referendum was required in every country on the reform of the European Union. He said that Europe went too far and many powers should be returned to the national and regional level. European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino called for work to be carried out on the integration model, which he saw as the only way of preserving sovereignty and diversity. EUROPE will return to the rest of the debate tomorrow.