EUROPEAN CONVENTION: The European Union will today begin a new stage in its development with the launch of a convention to determine its future shape.
The 105-person Convention on the Future of Europe, which will meet in Brussels until the middle of next year, will consider how to make the EU more efficient, more democratic and more accessible to citizens.
EU leaders agreed last December on a broad agenda for the convention but member-states are deeply divided over the direction it should take.
Some want the convention to produce a draft constitution for the EU but others hope that it will set a limit to European integration.
France's European Minister, Mr Pierre Moscovici, said yesterday that the convention should mark the beginning of a move towards a United States of Europe.
"United states, because it is about us forming a federation in Europe and to form a federation while respecting the states. Perhaps, after all, the concept of the United States of Europe is it more attractive than that of a federation of nation-states, while meaning the same thing," he said.
The convention will be chaired by the former French president, Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing and the agenda will be set by a 12-person praesidium.
National governments, national parliaments, the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions will have representatives at the convention.
The Government's representative is the former finance minister and EU commissioner, Mr Ray McSharry.
The Oireachtas will be represented by the former Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, who is also a member of the praesidium and by the Labour TD and MEP, Mr Proinsias De Rossa.
The President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, welcomed the start of the Convention,describing it as an innovative style of decision-making in Europe.
The convention will meet about 20 times a year and will draw up reports on a wide range of issues concerning the future of the EU. In the end, however, it is up to EU leaders to decide whether to act on the convention's suggestions.
Candidate countries will be represented at the convention but will not be allowed to vote.
Among the most important issues facing the convention is that of determining which policy areas should be decided at EU level and which should be the sole responsibility of member-states. Some governments see the convention as an opportunity to strengthen the EU institutions but others want to hand powers back to national governments.
The Danish MEP, Mr Jens-Peter Bonde, one of the few Eurosceptics at the convention, said it should take the opportunity to slim down the EU.
"The convention's real task is to put the union on a diet and send more power back to the national parliaments. Federal democracy is a wonderful thing which works really well in the United States.
"I just don't believe it would work in Europe because there is no common European identity, no feeling of a 'we' across Europe's borders," he said.