Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC)

EU leaders concluded the Brussels Summit on 18 June 2004 by reaching agreement on the text of the new Treaty which provides a Constitution for Europe.
Currently the EU is governed by the Nice Treaty, signed in December 2000 and which came into force in February 2003. The New Constitutional Treaty will, if ratified, enter into force in 2009.
The Irish Prime Minister stated:
"The Constitutional Treaty brings the Union’s basic law into one document for the first time. It reflects the needs of (...)

EU leaders meet again to discus the Constitution on the afternoon of June 17 in Brussels with the equally controversial issue of who should be the next Commission president to be discussed later on in the evening.
A new Secretary-General of the Council/High Representative for CFSP and Deputy Secretary-General of the Council for the period as from 18 October 2004 will also be decided.
A new document (CIG 81/04), has been issued by the Irish Presidency as a concise agenda for the discussions (...)

The IGC met at Foreign Minister level in Luxembourg on Monday, 14 June 2004. The meeting was to prepare final negotiations ahead of the Summit of Heads of State or Government level in Brussels on 17/18 June.
The Foreign Ministers had met on 17-18 May and again on 24 May to identify areas of consensus. Read the related EPHA article. The Irish Presidency commented:
"This morning we had a very productive meeting. Most of our discussion was focused on document CIG 80/04, which was circulated (...)

The Irish Presidency has prepared a new document CIG 79/04, dated 10 June 2004 on the progress of the IGC negotiations based on the comments and discussions from the EU Foreign Minister’s meetings on 17-18 and 24 May 2004.
The Presidency states that the new draft document includes some additional points on which there now appears to be broad consensus and a series of purely technical/legal adjustments. The new draft text is designed to prepare the Foreign Ministers meeting on 14 June 2004 (...)

EU Foreign Ministers meet in Brussels on 17-18 May 2004 for the next step in the IGC negotiations. In preparation, the Irish Presidency issued two new documents on 13 May that resulted from a Focus points meeting.
Document CIG 76/04 contains the provisions of the Constitution on which the Presidency states that a broad consensus emerged among experts the focal points meeting on 4 May. Article III-179 (ex 152) stays as it was in document CIG 73/04 (for a through analysis of this document, (...)

In preparation for IGC Focal points meeting on 4 May 2004, the Irish Presidency has published a new draft (CIG 73/04) of the Constitutional Treaty based on Document CIG 60/03 ADD1, incorporating changes to the Naples text of December 2003.
However, the Presidency emphasized that this new document is not an official proposal and that issues related to Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) still need to be worked out. But no new concerns could be tabled by Member States.
The next IGC meetings (on (...)

At the European Council on 25/26 March 2004, the Irish Presidency provided a Report CIG 70/04 with the result of bilateral meetings with the EU 25 countries, the Commission and the Parliament.
The latest IGC discussions were based on the Italian Presidency proposals for the Brussels summit on 12-13 December 2003 which ended without agreement.
The UK, France and Germany held a trilateral summit on 16 February 2004 and set out their vision of Europe’s role in health.
The Irish (...)

In a dialogue with civil society organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 22 January 2004, Mr Jean-Luc Dehaene (former vice-president of the Convention)and Mr Andrew Duff MEP (Liberals, UK) exchanged their opinions about the results of the IGC with civil society representatives.
The general feeling was that the IGC should continue the debate on the basis of the final text presented by the Convention.
There are two more texts that amend the Convention’s one, the (...)

Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen addressed the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy on 20 January 2004, on the current state of play regarding the IGC.
He announced that EU Foreign Ministers will continue the negotiations on the Constitutional text on 29 January, in the form of an initial informal discussion over lunch at next Monday’s meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council.
The European Council gave the Irish (...)

The InterGovernmental Conference ended without agreement during the day on Saturday 13 December 2003. The voting weights for Spain and Poland were the issue that brought the IGC to a standstill.
What does this mean for the draft Constitutional Text? Several commentators have noted that there is likely to be a period of reflection and stock-taking rather than a rush to re-start negotiations. It is expected that the Irish government will produce a status report in Spring 2004 but any (...)