Brussels, 10/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Presidium of the European Convention has decided to set up the following six working groups (in parenthesis, the deadline for their work): - subsidiarity (September), chaired by Inigo Mendes de Vigo; - Charter of Fundamental Rights (October or November), chaired by Commissioner Antonio Vitorino; - the Union's legal status (November), chaired by Giuliano Amato; - the role of national parliaments (November), chaired by Gisele Stewart; - complementary powers (October), chaired by Henning Christophersen; - accompanying the putting in place of the single currency (October), chaired by Klaus Haensch. The Convention's spokesman, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut said that other working groups could be set up later, and cited the fields of justice and home affairs, as well as external relations. It has not been ruled out that, in future, some groups could be chaired by Members of the Convention that are not on the Presidium (see EUROPE of 8 May, p.4).
In the framework of preparing the May session, the Presidium decided to hand Members of the Convention two papers. The first complements the first paper published on the distribution of powers by raising a series of questions concerning: - the lack of clarity in the system; - the lack of details regarding certain operational provisions (notably Articles 94, 95 and 308); - control of the respect of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality; - are citizens' expectations met; - the control of the respect of the distribution of powers. The other paper comes in the form of a catalogue of instruments and procedures and their different combinations and effects.
Regarding preparations for the Forum of Civil Society, Meyer-Landrut said that the Presidium intended devoting a second session in June to dialogue with representatives of civil society, that will need to be selected by then so as to guarantee their representative nature at the plenary session to be held in the Parliament. To do so, the Members will have topical meetings with the organisations concerned. The session will begin by an address by Vice-President Jean0Luc Dehaene. So as to allow for broad expression (the time in plenary session necessarily being limited), stands will be provided for in the Parliament's premises, which will also be asked to open up smaller rooms for parallel discussions on specific subjects. The Secretariat is currently preparing a compilation of contributions addressed by civil society to the European Convention.