Brussels, 10/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the end of the plenary of the European Convention of 6 and 7 June, it's chairman Valery Giscard d'Estaing encouraged the members to actively take part in the work of the contact groups which, from 10 June, are to prepare the Convention's plenary session of 24 and 25 June devoted to an exchange of views with civil society. An absence of members of the Convention would provide the regrettable impression of "indifference or negligence", he said, noting that the plenary of 24 and 25 June would be an "important crossing point for the Convention", and that "it would not be reasonable" for members to "take stances on certain aspects" of the future reform before having heard representatives of civil society. Contact groups on "very interesting" subjects have been set up, he recalled. He then stipulated that the plenary would comprise one hour of debate for each subject.
The contact groups, all chaired by members of the Convention's Presidium, are on: - regions and local authorities: Ana Palacio, 10 June; - culture: Aloisz Peterle, 12 June; - social sector: Klaus Haensch, 13 June; - universities and laboratories of ideas: Giuliano Amato, 13 June; - citizenship and institutions: Jean-Luc Dehaene, 14 June; - human rights: Antonio Vitorino, 17 June; - environment: Giorgis Katiforis, 17 June; - sustainable development: Henning Christophersen, 18 June. (See EUROPE of 31 May, p. 5, for the demands of the Citizens Assembly 2004).
VGE also made a point of recalling the importance he attached to the Convention of the Young which is to be held from 9 to 12 July, stating that the Convention's Secretariat continued to receive names of young people called on to participate, and again stressing the need for the young to be chosen in a manner that reflected "cultural and social diversity" in Europe. "They are the youth of Europe", they must come from Member States, and not be "located in Community circles", they must not "only be specialists in administrative law", exclaimed Valery Giscard d'Estaing.