A Convention for Europe

Let us not beat about the bush: 28 February 2002 will be remembered as a historic date for Europe, marking the disappearance of the last national currencies in the euro area. The same day sees the opening in Brussels of the Convention on the Future of Europe. A new chapter is beginning. Why?

After half a century, Europe is a strange political animal. It makes laws – the European Parliament now adopts more legal instruments than the National Assembly. It mints coins. It has its own budget, which, at 100 billion euros, is comparable in size with that of Spain. It raises an army: next year the Union will have a rapid-reaction force of 100 000 troops. It has a common spokesman on foreign policy. Its 380 million inhabitants possess common European citizenship in addition to their national citizenship. And yet this unparalleled Union has neither legal personality nor full-time leaders. Moreover, it is now preparing to welcome a dozen new member countries, almost all of them from the old Eastern bloc.

It is time to put the law in line with reality. Since Europe is undoubtedly a political power, it needs a constitution, in other words a statute that clearly defines its goals, its powers and its governing bodies and guarantees that these bodies are fully democratic.

This will be the role of the Convention. The term was chosen by analogy with the Constitutional Convention that met in Philadelphia in 1786 to draft the Constitution of the United States of America. A total of 105 elected Members from the parliaments of all the present and prospective Member States of the EU will work for 18 months on the drafting of the charter of the enlarged political Europe. I myself have been elected by the European Parliament to take part in this work. The sessions will be chaired by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the great veteran of the European cause who, in the seventies, ‘invented’ the European Council, initiated direct elections to the European Parliament in Strasbourg and launched the process leading to monetary union. The Convention also includes half a dozen former heads of government and around forty former government ministers from various countries.

We are no longer in 1786, however. It is not enough to line up a few dozen experts to establish a common set of rules for several hundred million citizens. Throughout its work, the Convention will have to keep in close touch with the people. Three cheers, then, for the Internet, which will help us to maintain a dialogue and to work together to ensure that the draft we are formulating in Brussels will truly be yours. This site will, of course, be devoted to the pursuit of that aim.

Alain Lamassoure, 28 February 2002