Brussels, 03/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - French Socialist Martine Roure, President of the Fourth World European Committee, has sent an open letter to the Chairman of the European Convention, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, and to George Katiforis, President of the Convention's "Social Europe" Working Group, and to Members of the Convention saying that "the fight against extreme poverty and social exclusion" should be inscribed in the Treaty "as a priority for the construction of Europe". The Fourth World European Committee is an Intergroup of the European Parliament of MEPs of all horizons wanting "to put the contribution, hopes and preoccupations of people and families living in extreme and persistent poverty at the heart of the construction of Europe". The MEP does not want people living in extreme poverty in Europe to be left on the margins of the European project. As the Convention's "Social Europe" Working Group is finalising its report (to be discussed in plenary on 6 February), the Committee rejects that the "eradication of extreme poverty is not included as a major objective of the European Union in the conclusions" of the Katiforis group report. Roure notes it is not enough to have social inclusion as one of the EU's objectives and regrets that combating social exclusion is not one of the areas "in which minimum requirements may be adopted by means of a Directive". The Committee is, however, "encouraged by the general consensus to include a reference to the Charter of Fundamental Rights amongst the values of the Union and as a basis for the actions of the Union in the social field", stressing "the indivisibility and interdependence of fundamental rights: economic, social and cultural rights as well as political and civil rights".