07/08/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Höhere Studien Institute (HIS) in Vienna has published in its Political Science Series a report by Jo Shaw on the theme of "What's in a Convention? Process and substance in the project of European constitution building". The report examines in what way the work of the Convention on the reform of the EU treaty has been "structured by the complex heritage of procedures and substance of the Constitutional acquis of the Union", explains the author noting in particular that the Convention has introduced the "notion of consensus between elites as a basis for "agreeing" on a new constitutional organisation". According to Shaw, the constitutional dialogue in the EU has been "incomparably enriched by the complex constellations of mediation of different interests" in the debates of the European Convention, in the plenaries, work groups, the different discussion circles and in the draft amendments and papers. If the Convention method is used again, affirms Jo Shaw, this could lead to an "overall reorganisation of the constitutional amendment process and the possible abandoning of traditional methods use in international law for amending the treaties". Shaw adds that this would be a "Constitutional revolution", which is certainly not for tomorrow. According to Jo Shaw, whatever happens to the Convention method, it is important to develop criteria for assessing both the evolution of the Conventional process and the results achieved by the Convention. (Insitut für Hohere Sdien. Stumpergasse 56; A-1060 Vienna. http://www.his.ac.at ).