Brussels, 25/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - Summarising to the press the main lessons to be drawn from the session of listening to civil society, the President of the European Convention, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, recalled that this special session was, with the Internet Forum, national debates and contact groups, only one of four ways in which citizens and interest groups can have any dialogue with the members of the Convention (see yesterday's EUROPE page 5). Among the suggestions that occurred most often, he cited: - integrating the Charter of Fundamental Rights, together with certain requests tending to its enrichment or its modification; - greater transparency in the way the institutions work, especially when the Council is acting as co-legislator; - a Constitutional Treaty for the EU. On this last point, Giscard d'Estaing recalled the results of the latest Eurobarometer survey that show that 63% of European citizens are in favour of a Constitution (the figure reaches 81% in Italy, 50% in the United Kingdom and close to 50% in Denmark).
Speaking of the organisation of the Youth Convention (9 to 12 July), Giscard d'Estaing said that 210 young people had been selected to take part. He himself will be there to greet them, as will the Chair of the EP's Committee on Culture, Michel Rocard and Commissioner Viviane Reding. They will organise their work on the model of the European Convention, with working groups and a presidium, and present their conclusions to the Convention at the plenary session of 12 July.
The next plenary session of the European Convention (11 and 12 July) will examine ways of strengthening the EU external actions, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing confirmed (see our special edition on the European council of Seville).
Asked about the duration of the work of the Convention, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing recalled that the Laeken declaration sets no deadline but simply provides an indication of duration. "It is a question of organising the European Union for a population of 500 million, which will make it the third largest group to people the world, after China and India, as well as the most diversified", he said, stressing the magnitude of the task, as well as affirming that the quality of work of the Convention must not be "sacrificed". We must "work with all due application and seriousness", he repeated, adding: "We shall try to do so in time (...) but if we must sacrifice quality (to meet a deadline: Ed.) that would lead me to put the question to the European Council". Answering another question on the Convention's ability to arrive at a single text of several options, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing declared: "With time and the rapprochement of ideas, I believe that there is a serious chance of arriving at a single draft Constitutional treaty". He made a point of recalling that the text would be the fruit of a consensus and not unanimity, due to the diversity of the composition of the Convention and the presence of a small number of eurosceptics.
"The meeting was a very important moment, but listening to civil society does not end with that. We shall remain listening", said Vice-President Jean-Luc Dehaene, before rejecting criticisms on the representative nature of the participants in the debate (see other article). While acknowledging that they were essentially European organisations that spoke at the Convention, Dehaene stressed that these organisations generally represented at European level organisations active nationally". "We made no choices (…) There was no filtering (…) The door is open", he assured the press.
Monday, dialogue with civil society allowed for following topics to be broached:
Social issues: speaking on behalf of the Social Platform (38 networks and federations of NGOs, or 1,800 individual organisations), Giampiero Alhdeff called for greater institutionalisation of the social dialogue. Anne David (Standing European conference of co-operatives, mutual funds, associations and foundations) hoped that the future Constitutional treaty would recognise the role of services of a general public interest in a Europe that "is much more than a market". The General Secretary of the European Trade Union confederation, Emilio Gabaglio, pleaded in favour of an economic government to complement monetary union, and hopes that the European social model will be enshrined in the new treaty. The President of the Economic and Social Committee (ESC), Goke Frerichs, hopes that the Convention will make Europe progress towards on citizens and not only of States. He recommended a more transparent procedure for selecting members of the ESC and said that the future European Constitution had to "provide the Committee with the means and possibilities to increasingly play its role better or institutional representative of civil society". For Anne-Marie Sigmund, President of the group of "various interests in the ESC, the principle of solidarity should appear in the treaty like the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.
Environment: In addition to an article in the treaty on animal welfare, Ralf Hallo (European Environment Bureau) called for better access by citizens to the Court of Justice so that they may challenge any decisions they consider unfounded. In his view, the aims of the Euratom Treaty are now out of date and they should today be modified and the environment protected against nuclear dangers. Sharon Cooper (European Convention on Agriculture) considers the CAP should be changed into a common rural and agricultural policy including sustainable development criteria and conceived in a way that guarantees developing countries access to the Community market.
Citizens and institutions: Kirsty Hughes (Centre for European Policy Studies) considers it is imperative to make the Commission more democratic by proceeding to the election of its president by the European Parliament and/or national parliaments and by granting the latter the control of subsidiarity. Stanley Crossick (European Policy Centre) considered the Council and the Commission should not have to rival each other but should, on the contrary, both be strengthened. Regarding the appointment of the Commission president, he recommends that the European political parties should designate their candidate before the European elections and that the European Parliament should then elect one of them. This appointment would be ratified by the European Council, voting by qualified majority. While pressing for a real European Constitution, Pascale Joannin (Robert Schumann Foundation) said she hoped a Culture Europe could be created, and urged Convention Members to show proof of ambition and only to think of the "history's judgement". According to MEP Fernand Herman (Federalist Voice), it is the Commission that has the aim of becoming a real European government and not the Council, which cannot devote itself to this function full time, which can never be sanctioned by the European Parliament and which is therefore "democratically irresponsible" in its European actions. Charlotte Roffiaen (Active Citizenship Network) considers that a referendum on the future Constitution would be the best way to strengthen Union legitimacy and to bring it closer to the citizens. European Ombudsman Jacob Söderman hoped a chapter would be devoted to the means available to citizens for legal action and that the future treaty would allow the Ombudsman to refer certain cases to the Court of Justice.