Body established to draft a constitution for the EU
The
Convention on the Future of the European Union
,
[3]
also known as the European Convention, was a body established by the
European Council
in December 2001 as a result of the
Laeken Declaration
. Inspired by the
Philadelphia Convention
that led to the adoption of the
United States federal Constitution
, its purpose was to produce a draft
constitution
for the
European Union
for the Council to finalise and adopt. The Convention finished its work in July 2003 with their
Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
. See
History of the European Constitution
for developments after this point.
Laeken Declaration
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In December 2001, when the European Council met in Laeken, a fresh declaration was adopted committing the EU to greater
democracy
,
transparency
and efficiency, and setting out the process by which a
constitution
could be arrived at.
[4]
This was to be achieved by a convention, which was intended to comprise the main 'stakeholders', in order to examine questions about the future direction of the EU. It was to produce a "final document", which soon became the draft constitution, to be handed over to the
Intergovernmental Conference
, scheduled for 2004, which would finalise a new treaty.
Work
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The European Convention was established with 102 members. Former
French
President
Valery Giscard d'Estaing
was appointed Chairman, former
Italian
Prime Minister
Giuliano Amato
and former Belgian Prime Minister
Jean-Luc Dehaene
were appointed Vice-Chairmen. Its members were drawn from the national parliaments of member states and candidate countries, the
European Parliament
, the
European Commission
, and representatives of
heads of state
and
government
. The Convention met for the first time in February 2002, and met thereafter in
plenary session
once or twice per month. It deliberated in public in the European Parliament building in Brussels.
The 13 member præsidium of the convention consisted of the chairman and vice-chairmen along with:
[5]
[6]
Government Representatives:
Ana de Palacio y del Valle-Lersundi
(Spain - PP);
Henning Christophersen
(Denmark - Venstre);
Georgios Katiforis
(Greece - PASOK).
European Commission Representatives:
Michel Barnier
- UMP;
Antonio Vitorino
- PS
European Parliament Representatives:
Klaus Hansch
- SPD;
Inigo Mendez de Vigo
y Montojo - PP
National Parliament Representatives:
Gisela Stuart
, Labour Party UK;
John Bruton
, FG Ireland
Invitee: Alojz
Lojze Peterle
- NSi (Slovenia)
See also
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References
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External links
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