” “Is Europe the victim ” “of its own success?

The plenary session of the European Convention for the future of Europe will be held on 23 and 24 May, the third after the inaugural session on 28 February (cf. SirEurope no. 9/2002) and the sessions in March and April. On the agenda is the debate on what functions should be assigned to the Union and how they should be distributed between the various institutions. Meanwhile, the Presidium has decided to set up six work groups within the Convention: respectively on subsidiarity (chaired by Inigo Mendes de Vigo), on the charter of fundamental rights (Antonio Vitorino), on the Union’s juridical personality (Giuliano Amato), on the role of the national parliaments (Gisela Stewart), on complementary functions (Henning Christophersen), and on measures to accompany the single currency (Klaus Hänsch). Other work groups may be set up at a later stage. The voice of Christians. The European Churches are carefully following the work of the Convention. The Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE) has set up a work group of its own, coordinated by Msgr. Attilio Nicora, to monitor the Convention’s meetings and to formulate proposals. A contribution of COMECE to the work of the Convention is expected in the next few days. These proposals will then be directly outlined to the members of the Convention in the framework of the Forum of civil society. The second session of the Presidium of the Convention in June will in fact be devoted to dialogue with the various expressions of civil society. The Conference of European Churches (KEK), an umbrella organization representing the evangelical, reformed and orthodox Churches of the continent, also reaffirmed its interest in the work of the Convention at the recent annual meeting of its “Church and Society” Commission and invited Christians to participate in the debate now going on (cf. SirEurope no.18/2002). To this end KEK has also compiled a dossier on the European Convention which is available on the Internet (www.cec-kek.org). Other documents will be prepared in collaboration with COMECE. The opinions of the experts. According to Jacques Santer, predecessor of Romano Prodi as president of the European Commission and delegate of the Luxembourg delegation to the Convention, this body was created at a favourable moment: “Europe is a space of peace, with its single market, single currency, and commercial power. But never as today is acceptance of it so low. Perhaps it is the victim of its own success: perhaps citizens were expecting more?”, he wondered in a statement made to “Europe Infos”, the European monthly news bulletin published jointly by COMECE and by OCIPE (Office catholique d’information et d’initiative pour l’Europe), in its May number. “The time has come – Santer points out – finally to give a soul to Europe, i.e. reinforce the political dimension of our economic project. It’s not a question of being closer to citizens, but of being more visible and more comprehensible to them”. Santer expresses the hope that the constitutional Treaty, which will be the end-result of the work of the Convention, will be based on the charter of fundamental rights. He also points out that “Europe is inspired by the humanism founded on the Judaeo-Christian legacy. This ought to be reflected in the declaration on fundamental rights. It’s essential – Santer said – that civil society gives scope to the Churches and that account be taken of their contribution in the final draft Constitution”. In the view of Jérôme Vignon, principal adviser in the general Secretariat of the European Commission and one of the main drafters of the “White Paper on European Governance”, the functions of the various European institutions need to be clarified, beginning from the top with the Commission itself, which with its 20,000 employees embodies the heart of “EU bureaucracy” in the European imagination. The question, Vignon explained to “Europe Infos”, is not so much “what the Commission’s functions ought to be, but how it should exercise them”.