” “Starting out by listening” “

The inaugural session of the Convention on the future of Europe took place in Brussels on Thursday, 28 February (cf. SirEurope nos. 7/2002 and 12/2001). Opening the proceedings, José Maria Aznar, Spanish Prime Minister and current President of the Council, emphasized the need for Europe to redefine its own role within the changed continental and international context. According to Aznar, the priorities are the search for a “means of striking the right balance between the profound cultural unity of Europe and its evident historical diversity”, and the objective of achieving a “European architecture” based on political union through a process of “pluralist constitutionalization, respectful of the different national systems”. The President of the EP, the Irish Pat Cox, recalled the continental character of the Convention, and urged its members to combine speaking with listening. “This Convention – Cox declared – must open the way to permanent dialogue with our peoples, social partners, civil society, states and regions”. Romano Prodi, President of the EU Executive, pointed out that the questions relating to the institutional reforms could only be tackled and resolved once a reply had been given to the crucial question: “what project for the future of Europe?”. The reform of the EU decision-making process and the definition of the roles and responsibilities incumbent on each level of power represent, in Prodi’s view, the means for the EU to “equip itself with a Constitution that may mark the birth of the political Europe, without losing sight of the originality of European integration and without any ambition to establish a European super-State”. The President of the Convention, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, for his part, stressed that the Convention is called to adopt a “constitutional Treaty”. If a Constitution for the European Union is ever to become a reality, Giscard declared that the Convention must succeed in proposing a Treaty “comprehensible for everyone” and achieve a “wide consensus on a common project”. Emphasizing that the Convention represents the first occasion of its kind after the Messina Conference of 1955 “by which the European leaders provided themselves with the means and fixed a timetable for a far-reaching reflection on the future of Europe”, the President of the Convention said he was conscious of the difficulty of “reconciling a strong feeling of belonging to Europe with the maintenance of the national identity”. Giscard confirmed that the first phase of the work of the Convention will be dedicated “to listening”, in particular listening to the young, and expressed the hope that a “Convention of the youth of Europe” and of the candidate countries seeking EU membership would be established. The first comments. At the end of the inaugural session we sounded out the first reactions of observers and experts in Brussels. “No more was to be expected than the comforting words of the main speakers, given that it was the inaugural session”, commented Micheal O Conchuir, coordinator of the European Alliance Group in the Committee of the Regions. “In Giscard d’Estaing’s opening address what I found positive was the reference to a structured dialogue with civil society, the NGOs and the associations; also his references to enlargement, peace and solidarity as foundations for the constituent process; or his declared intention to convene a Youth Convention, in spite of the fact that both the organizational procedures and the effective potential of such an organ would still seem too indefinite”. “The European Union is strong thanks to its diversities – added O Conchuir – so the challenge consists in building a Union of citizens that is clear, transparent and respectful of the various cultures. To this end, the regional and local perspective will also have to be promoted: what’s needed is a greater recognition of the role of the local authorities, especially due to their function of direct contact with the less privileged citizens and social groups”. According to Zdenek Werner, general delegate of the city of Prague to the EU, “the Convention has the task of reconciling fire with water. Its composition is very varied and it’s the first time in European history that we have witnessed an exercise of this kind, in theory, at least, without any direct and exclusive control by governments. Some problems are already evident, such as the dissatisfaction of the candidate countries due to the non-representativeness of the Presidium – which also seems to have too many powers – or the sometimes conflicting positions of many European governments. The Convention, however, will never arrive at shared conclusions without a prior agreement between the delegates of the governments. I honestly wonder what type of compromise Giscard will be able to wrest from the members of the Convention; also because – concluded Werner, convinced of the fact that the heart of the debate will only be entered after the summer – if the Convention should fail to achieve its objective, we would then have to ask ourselves what the consequences would be and more especially what would become of the necessary reforms”. Arnaldo Abruzzini, secretary general of Eurochambres (an umbrella organization representing the national unions of European Chambers of Commerce), sees the question of the Convention from a twofold perspective: “First, as a citizen, I hope that a sense of Europe, the utter lack of which can be felt, may finally be developed. Europe is poorly and inadequately perceived and governments are not in the least helping to rectify this shortcoming. Second, as a professional, I believe that the Convention may represent an important occasion for understanding how to enter into closer contact with citizens, through dialogue and information; it’s also a problem of consensus, both for the experts and for the peoples they represent”. Regretting the fact that the average age of the members of the Convention is 54 and that the youngest is aged 37, Henrik Söderman, President of the European Youth Forum, expressed his own satisfaction about Giscard d’Estaing’s pledge to involve civil society in the Convention’s work. “With a view to furnishing the point of view of the young to the debate on the future of Europe – says a press release put out by the Forum – a Contact Group has been set up in the hope of establishing solid working relations with the Convention”. The European Youth Forum is also urging that the reform of the EU Treaties may also include an article relating to youth policy. Gian Andrea Garancini – Brussels The EU ratifies the Kyoto protocol On 4 March the EU Council of Ministers of the Environment ratified the Kyoto Protocol for the reduction of atmospheric pollution caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The decision, expected for several weeks following the almost unanimous approval of the draft ratification by the European Parliament during its plenary session in February, requires further ratification by the fifteen member states before it becomes fully implemented; this process could be completed by the end of June so as to permit the Protocol’s entry into force before the world Summit on sustainable development scheduled to open in Johannesburg (South Africa) in September 2003. Adopted in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol pledges the Union to reduce by 8% its emissions of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases in the period 2008-2012, using the levels ascertained in 1990 as reference base.