On Thursday 12 and Friday 13 of June, the Convention met in Plenary session for the last time before the Thessaloniki Summit.
On Thursday, after a long day of meetings with the component groups of the Convention the Presidium turned up to the plenary session at 19:00, one hour later than expected.
Giscard d’Estaing presented the document with the final amendments to the text, amongst which he mentioned amendments to the Preamble, to the articles on the institutional reform and clarifications on the interpretation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The final text of Part I of the Treaty does NOT list public health in Article I-3 : EU objectives. Furthermore the confusing split of competencies (’common safety concerns in public health matters’ as a shared competence and ’protection and improvement of human health’ as an area of supporting competence) has not been changed.
Conventioneers listened quietly and tried to assimilate the document, which had not been yet translated into all of their respective languages.
After Giscard d’Estaing finished his speech, a few Conventioneers took the floor to raise concerns on what they thought had been left out or should be rewritten.
No speaker raised the issue of public health.
On Friday morning everybody waited at the doors of the Convention’s meeting room for the last set of speeches before the Thessaloniki Summit on 20-21 June.
The first interventinos were made by the representants of the different components of the Convention. Ms Palacio (EPP-ED, Spain) representing the national government, announced that the Madrid had some reservations to the text and their concerns will be presented in Thessaloniki.
Ms Hildegard Puwak (Romanian government representative) speaking for the socialist family, expressed the positive achievements on consumer protection and the creation of a legal basis for services of general interest.
Mr Elmar Brok (German MEP) speaking for the EPP-ED family, pointed out the need to clarify the the articles on the competences of the Union (Part III). This will be done on 9-11 July, if the IGC gives green light to the text of the Convention next week.
Most of the speakers urged Mr Giscard d’Estaing to fight in the IGC in order to preserve the text as it is now.
Althought many disagreements still remain, the Conventioneers want to bring a solid text to the IGC that cannot easily be watered down by Member States.
Several interventions repeated that the text had been drafted by the parliamentarians of Europe representing their citizens, and recognised that there was a consensus over the final text
Finally, Mr Giscard d’Estaing stood up and made a final speech for the benefit of the cameras and microphones that had gathered in front of him.
Thanking all the members of the Convention, the Presidium and the Secretariat, Giscard d’Estaing recognised the hard work of the last sixteen months.
He pointed out that the Convention could be considered the first Union body to work together with the new Member States.
He also stated that the results of the Convention were not perfect but they were more than could have been hoped for at the beginning of the Convention. He ensured that Europe’s voice will be heard and respected in the international sphere.
After Mr Giscard d’Estaing’s intervention, the European hymn was heard in the room and the Conventioneers walked away to their champagne celebration.
Full Constitutional Text:
Volume II: Part II (previous to the last version), Part III and IV of the Constitution.
