The Convention on the Future of Europe will enter its final stage next week when it gets down to discussing the first draft section of the new constitutional Treaty.
At its next meeting, taking place in Brussels on 27 and 28 February, the Convention will debate the draft of articles 1-16 of the new Treaty, presented to the last meeting by Convention President Valery Giscard D'Estaing. These Treaty articles set out to define the European Union and its objectives, fundamental rights and citizenship and the powers of the Union. They also deal with issues like the Union's "legal personality", co-ordination of economic policies and the common foreign and security policy.
Link to draft: http://european-convention.eu.int/docs/Treaty/cv00528.en03.pdf
The articles have provoked a huge response from members of the Convention who have tabled over 1,000 amendments to the first draft section, covering the whole range of issues from the definition of the term "federal" to EU citizenship.
Link to amendments: http://european-convention.eu.int/amendemTrait.asp?lang=EN
The meeting will also see the presentation of the second set of articles of the new Treaty which have been drawn up by the Praesidium, the executive body of the Convention. The new Treaty is being presented to the Convention in three tranches. By April the Convention will have seen all three tranches and the complete text of all three parts of the new treaty. This draft Treaty document and the Convention's final conclusions are scheduled to be presented to member state governments by the European Council in June 2003.
Link to "Work of the Convention": http://www.europarl.org.uk/conventionFOE/FOEmain02.htm