Under the Presidency of Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini, the "Conclave" of EU Foreign Ministers met on 28-29 November 2003. The Ministers discussed the Italian Presidency’s draft of 25 November and to outline the agenda of the IGC session at Head of State and Government level to be held in mid-December at the same time as the European Summit.
The results of the meeting were some significant agreements: each country to have their own Commissioner with voting rights. Progress has also been made on military and defense cooperation based on a joint proposal submitted by the UK, France and Germany. But the issue of including references to a ’christian heritage’ in the text was not agreed and the thorny issue over voting weights could not be solved. The UK has suggested that this problem does not need to be finalised now because the existing arrangements (agreed in Nice in December 2000) will stay in place until 2009, so there is no urgency to resolve voting weights.
The Presidency document prepared for the meeting explains progress made so far in integrating amendments from the Member States, EU institutions and the legal experts. This document highlights the fact there are changes to a number of articles including Article 179 on public health.
Presidency documents
Presidency Proposal for Naples Conclave, DOC CIG 52/01/03
The Presidency proposes that this is new basis for future IGC discussions rather than the original Convention draft. So far, it is only available in French. CIG 50/03 French version of revised legal text
SUGGESTED CHANGES TO ARTICLE III-179 and new Social Clause
Although the strong calls from many Member States and NGOs to include ’protection of health’ as an EU objective in Article I-3 do not appear to have been taken into consideration, Page 26 (called Annex 19) introduces a new article called ’the Social clause’
Article III-2a
In defining and implementing the policies and actions referred to in this Part, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training and protection of human health.
On pages 34-35, called Annex 29, a new point has been added to Paragraph 1 of Art III-179.
(b) monitoring, early warning and combating accidental or intentional serious threats to health when they may have a European dimension.
Also a new point has been added to Paragraph 4 of Article III-179, which sets out in which areas the EU may introduce legislation.
(c) measures setting high standards of quality and safety for health products and devices for medical use.
Previously EU legislation was limited to blood safety and human tissues and cells.
Legal experts opinion DOC 51/03 of 25 November The Working Party of Legal Experts from EU institutions were requested to answer several questions. This report states that legal changes and amendments were made to improve consistency and correct ommissions to the text. The document notes that on some questions, no agreement could be reached and the text remains legally ’incorrect’. (For more information on this group)
