14/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - In an article on the draft European Constitution published in the autumn 2003 edition of the magazine Affari Esteri, the former Italian permanent representative to the EU, Piero Calamia, stressed the need for the IGC which opened on 4 October to avoid "steps backward on fundamental issues" of the draft Convention, especially on "new openings" on foreign, security and defence policy. According to Ambassador Calamia, if it is to live up to its pro-European tradition, Italy should "start off in the group of countries with the greatest military capacity, which will launch structured co-operation, and in the group of countries which will accept closer co-operation in defence matters". "Beyond formulae and denominations, it is clear that the future of the political Union will depend on choices European countries will make in this field", he affirmed. On the other hand, he feels that the Italian Presidency should try to obtain "the revision of certain provisions which may harm the Union's political progress": he feels that the Convention's proposals on the permanent President of the European Council and the composition of the European Commission (with Commissioners with no voting rights) "certainly" feature among the provisions to be revised.