Brussels, 14/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Praesidium of the European Convention spent last Thursday and Friday preparing for the plenary session to be held on 24-25 April. The plenary will be arranged as follows: on Thursday afternoon, presentation of draft articles on the EU's external action, followed by a debate on the democratic life of the EU and the EU and its surrounding area; on Friday morning, debate on belonging to the EU and general and final provisions (see EUROPE, 5 April, p.4). According to what spokesperson Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut said to the press, the Praesidium hopes to be able to use the same occasion to present draft articles on the institutions, which it should approve on 22 April (which would be especially useful for the debate due to take place in the plenary on 15-16 May on the CFSP and ESDP, in particular, because the role of a future European Minister of Foreign Affairs will depend on the institutional make-up as a whole: Ed.) Mr Meyer-Landrut also pointed out the following:
(1) on the EU's external action, the Praesidium proposes: in the first part, two articles 29 and 30, on the CFSP and the ESDP, and a "solidarity clause" (see Europe, 10 April, p.9). The Praesidium has woked on the basis of the conclusions of the Barnier Report (which provides in particular for three possible forms of strengthened or closer cooperation between a number of member states: within a future European Armament Agency, in the most demanding Petersburg operations and the option of invoking within the EU Article V of the Brussels Treaty, i.e. the WEU's mutual assistance clause, which is still in force: Ed.) Will this text be amended following the exchange of views between Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and the EU heads of state and government on Wednesday in Athens? In answer to this question, Mr Meyer-Landrut said that the debate will take place "within the Convention and not elsewhere" and President Giscard d'Estaing will find out what the "feelings" of the 15 member states are "individually rather than collectively"; in a second part, draft articles on: horizontal clauses, CFSP, the ESDP, trade policy, development cooperation, international agreements
(2) on economic and monetary coordination, the Praesdium is proposing texts on which a clear majority view has been reached on the report of the Hänsch Group (in other words, some issues are still up for discussion).
The Praesidium has also identified, in the list of legal bases, the exceptions which can be envisaged to codecision, which will be extended, even in the legislative provisions (an important but "thankless" task in the opinion of Mr Meyer-Landrut). These exceptions will concern specifically acts that need to be ratified by national parliaments or that have implications for constitutional arrangements in the member states.