Brussels, 25/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - Faced with the obvious acceleration of the speed of talks within the Convention, the Presidium has decided that the working group on social Europe which the last plenary had requested would be created on 6 December, with as chair Giorgios Katiforis, Greek Socialist member of the European Parliament and representative of the Simitis government in the Convention (see Europe of 9 November, p.6). The working group, which should present a report end-January-early February at the latest, will consider: - the Union's values and social objectives, especially in relation to the European Charter of Fundamental Rights; - the Union's competencies in that field; - the possibilities of using the "open method of co-ordination" (launched at the Lisbon Summit in March 2001); - the link between the co-ordination of economic policies and social policies - the place of the social partners in the treaty
Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, spokesman for the president of the Convention, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, told the press that, at its plenary of 5 December, the Convention would first hear a report on the Amato working group on the simplification of procedures, and then, preliminary reports from the Dehaene working group on external relations and Barnier on Defence. On 6 December, having set-up the Katiforis working group, the Convention will have an exchange of views on the justice/home affairs working group, chaired by former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton.