October 28, 2002	Monday	Sha’aban 21,1423

BRUSSELS, Oct 27: Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing will unveil the first outline of an EU constitution on Monday, taking the debate on the future of the European Union to a new phase.

The document comes after months of discussion by Giscard’s so-called Convention on the Future of Europe, which is charged with plotting a political course for the Union as it gears up for major enlargement to the mostly former communist east.

A constitution would clarify what the bloc aims to be: a debate that divides countries into two broad camps — those like Germany that want a more federal union, and states like France and Britain that want nation states to retain their primacy.

Giscard’s text will be a skeleton, rather than a fleshed-out draft saying how power would be allocated in the European Union of the future, Convention members have said.

Giscard wants to make the Union less remote in the eyes of its citizens and has suggested setting up a new body of European Parliament members and national MPs.

This “Congress of the Peoples of Europe” would not pass laws, but would oversee strategic direction, Giscard said.

The text is also likely to raise the option of creating a president of the European Council of EU leaders or strengthening the existing role of president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

The idea of having a Council president is backed by Britain, France and Spain, but opposed by many smaller states, which fear a loss of influence to the bigger EU members.—Reuters