The Laeken Summit: A Milestone for Europe
John Palmer
The meeting of the European Union Council of Ministers at Laeken, near
Brussels, in December 2001 is likely to prove an historic milestone
in the development of European integration. Its centrepiece was the
Laeken Declaration on The Future of the European Union which established
a Constitutional Convention under the chairmanship of former French
President Giscard d'Estaing. This has the task of preparing a European
constitutional treaty in time for the expected ten EU Member States
to take part in the June 2004 European Parliament elections. So far
as Wales' constitutional development is concerned the importance
of the Convention is that part of its agendas will be a consideration
of the relations between the multi-level tiers of governance within
the European Union: Europe, the Nation States and the Constitutional
Regions. The Convention's work begins in March 2002 and will conclude
no later than Spring 2003, leaving a time for reflection before the
Dublin European summit in 2004.
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John Palmer, former European Editor of The Guardian, is Director
of the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank. Its website
may be found at: www.theepc.be
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