On 6-7 September 2003 the Italian Presidency presented their plans for the IGC and confirmed their intention to meet the deadline of completion by December 2003 despite emphasis by several Member States that they were not prepared to speed through the process.
The Italian presidency stated that there would be no or minimal involvement of experts and there will not be preparatory groups. This implies that the Presidency considers Part III (policy areas) closed.
The IGC process will be led by the Heads of State and the Foreign Ministries. Expert groups might be convened and the Council Legal Services will review the text until the end of October.
This provides a window of opportunity for NGOs to submit technical or legal amendments to the text.
The incoming 10 CEE countries will participate fully in the IGC on an equal footing with the current Member States.
The second wave candidate countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey) will take part in all meetings as observers.
The European Parliament will send official observers, but the Chairman of the Convention, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, will not be allowed to participate.
Several Member States have issued "shopping lists" on the issues they want to debate during the IGC.
However, Jean-Luc Dehanene (Vice-president of the Convention) said that Social Policy would not be touched (Hearing in European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs 8 September 2003).
