EPP CALLS ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE TO COMPLETE AND FINALIZE A CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY BASED ON THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION'S PROPOSAL

Halkidiki, 19 June 2003

Members of the European People's Party (EPP) agreed today in Halkidiki (Greece) a resolution on the European Convention calling on the Heads of State and Government to stick to the timetable and finish the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) at the end of 2003 in Rome as already proposed by the EPP Congress in October 2002 in Estoril:


Considering

• That the EPP already asked at its Congress in January 2001 in Berlin to set up a Convention;
  
  
• That the Convention on the Future of the European Union was composed of representatives from the Governments, the National Parliaments, the European Parliament and the Commission and was given the task of proposing reforms in order to make the European Union more transparent and democratic;
  
  
• That the Convention procedure was very positive;
  

Welcoming

• The outcome of the work of the Convention which was largely influenced by a coordinated work of the EPP Members and the EPP Convention Group and which was very positive and balanced;
  
  
• That the proposed Constitution contains all important elements which the EPP had proposed at its Congress in October 2002 in Estoril;
  
• The fact that the Convention managed to present a compromise between the different positions on institutional matters and a coherent text in general which foresees important and necessary reforms for a Union of 25 Member States;
  

Calls on

• The Heads of State and Government to fulfil their responsibility and to negotiate as soon as possible and to finalize the European constitution on the basis of the outcome of the Convention;
  
  
• The Intergovernmental Conference to stick to the timeframe for concluding the IGC before the end of 2003 in Rome as already proposed by the EPP Congress in October 2002 in Estoril.
  

The EPP Enlarged Summit was held in the Sani Hotel Resort, in Halkidiki (Greece) to prepare the next European Council in Thessaloniki that will study the Constitution proposed by the Convention. Prime Ministers as Jose Maria AZNAR (Spain), Jan-Peter BALKENENDE (Netherlands), Silvio BERLUSCONI (Italy), Jose Manuel DURAO BARROSO (Portugal), Jean-Claude JUNCKER (Luxemburg) and Wolfang SCHÜSSEL, Chancellor of Austria, participated in this EPP Summit as well as Prime Ministers from the new Member States of the EU such as Mikulas DZURINDA (Slovakia), Edward FENECH-ADAMI (Malta) and Juhan PARTS (Estonia).


STATUTE FOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES

The EPP also welcomed the European Parliament's support for the Statute for European Political Parties, approved today in the EP Plenary Session. This new regulation, which the EPP pushed for a long time, is a step towards promoting the roles of European political parties that will give them more influence in European decision making.

EPP Members considers that the Statute for European Political Parties will bring also more clarity and transparency to financing European political parties.


RESOLUTION ON THE WESTERN BALKANS

The EPP also approved today a text on the Western Balkans that stresses the importance of the integration process of the countries of this region to the EU and accepted Mr. Kostas Karamanlis's invitation to convene a special meeting of the South East European Forum in early fall 2003 in Greece in order to "discuss and coordinate its policy on these issues with our partners from the region".