Brussels, 31/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - Convention spokesman, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut has explained that the next plenary will be discussing the composition and mandates of six work groups which it has decided to set up (EUROPE 11 May page 4). It will also be dealing with two other themes at the initial debates at the plenary, which Members have indicated are priority issues. The Presidium has prepared documents on them:
- A freedom area of security and justice: role of the Union and Member States. Meyer-Landrut indicated that the Presidium document poses numerous questions: should the pillar structures be abolished? Should qualified majority voting be introduced in these fields? Should "opt outs and opt ins" be abolished or maintained? These issues create a problem for the institutions and their role in the different fields (that the Convention will only be tackling after the summer - Editor's note), explained the spokesman to the press, who were asking him whether it was useful if the Convention continued to discuss in a way that was fairly general, EU missions, whereas the intergovernmental and Community battle had already begun.
- role of national parliaments in European architecture. The Praesidium document mainly lists several proposals on the future role of the parliaments of Member States (political control over respective governments, eventual amendment of treaties providing for compulsory consultation, creation of a second chamber within the European Parliament). The president of the future group on national parliaments, British MP Gisela Stuart, will also present a document to the plenary next week.
In response to questions, Mr Meyer-Landrut confirmed that President Prodi may come in person to present the Commission's position before the Members of the Convention (perhaps after the summer) and that Valéry Giscard d'Estaing should soon meet Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. The report by Chairman Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to the Seville Summit will be an oral report and will provide an opportunity for the Heads of State and Government to express their views on the work of the Convention, he specified. In answer to questions on the recent declarations by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing on French radio (see A Look Behind the News), he noted that VGE always states whether he is expressing his personal ideas or not.