THE RISE OF EUROPE CONVENTION

Year 2002, Volume: 2 Issue: 4, 163 - 191, 01.04.2002

M. Gülce Kumrulu

https://doi.org/10.1501/Avraras_0000000073

Abstract

As the 2000 Intergovernmental Conference IGC failed to solve all of the problems related to the looming Enlargement, the leftover issues will be tackled in the 2004 IGC. However, the 2001 Laeken Summit decided the establishment of a Convention on the Future of Europe to discuss these issues. It is the first time in the history of European integration that such a method is applied in treaty reform.The Convention currently debates on several options and it will submit the final outcome of these debates to the 2004 IGC. This article points out the motives and the innovations of the Convention. It examines some essential topics on the agenda of the Convention and its functioning until December 2002.It is argued that if the Convention on the Future of Europe proves to be successful, this may be a challenge to treaty reform. It may lead to a Convention+IGC model. Nevertheless, it is observed that the conventional' intergovernmentalism vs. federalism debate has already dominated the agenda of the Convention as well. Therefore, the success of the Convention will depend on its ability to overcome this dilemma and to submit a constitution based on consensus rather than a menu of various options to the 2004IGC.

Keywords

European Convention, Treaty Reform, EU Constitution, Intergovernmentalism-federalism, `Convention + Intergovernmental Conference' Model

Avrupa’nın Geleceğine İlişkin Konvansiyon

Abstract

As the 2000 Intergovernmental Conference(IGC) failed to solve all of the problems related to the looming Enlargement, the leftover issues will be tackled in the 2004 IGC. However, the 2001 Laeken Summit decided the establishment of a Convention on the Future of Europe to discuss these issues. It is the first time in the history of European integration that such a method is applied in treaty reform.The Convention currently debates on several options and it will submit the final outcome of these debates to the 2004 IGC. This article points out the motives and the innovations of the Convention. It examines some essential topics on the agenda of the Convention and its functioning until December 2002.It is argued that if the Convention on the Future of Europe proves to be successful, this may be a challenge to treaty reform. It may lead to a Convention+IGC model. Nevertheless, it is observed that the conventional' intergovernmentalism vs. federalism debate has already dominated the agenda of the Convention as well. Therefore, the success of the Convention will depend on its ability to overcome this dilemma and to submit a constitution based on consensus rather than a menu of various options to the 2004IGC.

Keywords

Konvansiyon, Avrupa, Gelecek