Brussels, 12/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - "Dear Convention Member, the Convention is now entering its final phase. I share your concerns about working as effectively as possible to reach the best possible result, in the relatively short period of time allocated to us by the European Council", wrote President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in a letter last week to the members of the Convention, prior to the plenary of 15 and 16 May. This plenary, he reminded them, will be devoted to "very important articles": on the institutions of the Union, external action, and defence. Here are his suggestions to put "the available time to use efficiently".
For the plenary of 15 and 16 May, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing suggests spending the whole of the Thursday on the institutions, plus part of Friday morning, if necessary; the rest of Friday will be devoted to international policy and defence.
Following this debate, the President told the Convention Members, the Presidium "will have the final pieces of background information it needs to put the final touches to the revision of the draft texts you have had up until now, and to undertake the wording of the Preamble" (which he has started work on himself: see EUROPE of 10 May, p. 3). Valéry Giscard d'Estaing specifies that: - Part II of the Constitution will take up the text of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; - as to Part III, on "policies", the Presidium will start its fine-tuning ("on the basis of the document prepared by experts from the legal services, who have taken on board the recommendation of the "simplification" working group"), with the addition of new articles, some of which will have been examined in plenary - such as those on external action and the space of freedom, security and justice), whereas others "will aim to reflect the Convention's debates on other subjects, such as the co-ordination of economic policies, social policy or budgetary procedure". "You will therefore receive a draft Constitutional Treaty complete in all parts before the end of May. It will be ready to be debated at the plenary session of 30 and 31 May", he confirmed.
As to the plenaries of 5 and 6 June and 12 and 13 June, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has asked Convention Members to be in Brussels for the whole fortnight, or at least for three full days, from the Wednesday to the Friday inclusive. This will allow them to meet in their political groups or components (representatives from governments, Parliaments, the Commission), or working groups, to "identify the outstanding issues, and to find solutions allowing us to reach a final consensus". Valéry Giscard d'Estaing announced that he and his Vice-Presidents, Jean-Luc Dehaene and Giuliano Amato would have "consultations and contact" allowing the Presidium to "proceed gradually to an understanding of the progress made towards consensus".
In an interview published in Le Point on 9 May, VGE mainly states that "there is little chance the European Constitution will be adopted before 2005 or 2006". What will happen after enlargement to 25 members, in 2004? VGE replies: "We should have thought of this earlier. No doubt it would have been sensible to reform the European institutions before inviting ten new countries to take part! (…) For several years, a 25-member Europe should function with the provisions of the Nice Treaty. The 80 million Germans will only have one European Commissioner - like the French, moreover - whereas the Baltic States, for example, which only have 8 million inhabitants in all over three States, will have three Commissioners. During this period, tension is predictable, as the institutions will not be judged very representative". Regarding the impact of the Iraqi crisis on the work of the Convention, VGE notes that this crisis "has not slowed down our work" but has "had an influence on the reflection that 105 Convention Members make on European foreign policy". He noted in passing one "merit" of the Convention during this crisis: "it allowed Ana Palacio, Spanish Foreign Minister, German Joschka Fischer and Dominique de Villepin, who were fighting each other at the Security Council, to meet again at our meeting, where they seemed pleased to be able to discuss things within a common framework!".
Imminent response from Romano Prodi to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Answering press questions on Monday concerning Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's invitation to Romano Prodi to take part, with him, in a public debate on the controversial idea of a full-time European Council President (see EUROPE of 10 May, p;2), Commission spokesperson Rejo Kemppinen remarked that this was a very important issue and that the Commission president was reflecting on his answer to the Chairman of the European Convention. His answer is to be given on Tuesday.