The Battle for Power in Europe: Will the Convention get it right? EPIN Working Paper No. 4, February 2003

摘要

[From the Executive Summary]. As it enters the final phase of its work, the jury is still out as to how well – or whether – the Convention will answer the three big Laeken challenges: to bring the EU closer to the European public; to create an effective political structure and operation for the enlarged EU; and to give the EU a genuine global role. The Convention has made considerable achievements in its work already and has developed a strong, if complex, political dynamic. But it is the big institutional decisions which will impact most strongly on both efficiency and democracy in the enlarged EU. In foreign policy, the results so far have been weak and further progress will depend partly on institutional change but also, as ever, on the presence or absence of real political will. So far the Convention has also not been either successful or very active in engaging the wider public who remain in general unaware of the work of the Convention.