Brussels, 05/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - Although the Praesidium of the Convention, which met on Thursday morning to draw its initial conclusions from the consultations which took place on Wednesday with the various component groups of the Convention (see yesterday's EUROPE, and above), was to meet on Thursday evening after the plenary session, it was still not certain that the Convention Members would have a new amended text of the institutional part of the future Constitution on Friday. "If the Praesidium can do enough to the text this evening to be able to present it tomorrow, we will. Otherwise, it will be early next week", Valéry Giscard d'Estaing told Convention Members on Thursday afternoon, at the opening of the plenary.
On Thursday morning, the Praesidium notably dealt with the issue of a permanent President of the European Council, and, according to well-informed sources, the following amendments were made to the draft text currently on the table:
the passage excluding the future European Council President from being someone who has a function in another Community institution was deleted (leaving only the ban on their occupation of a national mandate). This could in future open the door to single Presidency of the European Council and the European Commission;
also deleted was the proposal that the President of the European Council be assisted by a special bureau made up (using a rotation system) of three other members of the European Council. This request was voiced on Wednesday by many Convention Members who oppose or are reluctant about the idea of a "strong" president;
a clarification could be added in the passage explaining that the president of the European Council will be elected by qualified majority, specifying that this qualified majority must include 2/3 of Member States.