HC Deb 20 March 2000 vol 346 cc406-8W
Mr. Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in respect of the Convention on a draft Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, if he will list(a) the participant from each member state or other appointing body, (b) the composition and tasks of its, (i) working groups, (ii) drafting Committee and (iii) Editorial Committee, (c) the dates when these groups and the Plenary of the Convention (1) have met and (2) plan to meet and (d) what (x) oral and (y) written evidence from his Department has been reported by select committees of the House concerning the Convention. [115249]

Mr. Vaz

(a) The current membership of the EU Charter Convention is:

Member States Representatives

  • Lord Goldsmith, QC—United Kingdom
  • to be announced—Austria
  • Jean-Luc Dehaene—Belgium
  • Dr. Erling Olsen—Denmark
  • Paavo Nikula—Finland
  • Guy Braibant—France
  • Roman Herzog (Chair)—Germany
  • George Papadimitriou—Greece
  • Michael O' Kennedy—Ireland
  • Stefano Rodota—Italy
  • Paul-Henri Meyers—Luxembourg
  • Frits Korthals Altes—Netherlands
  • Professor Bacelar de Vasconcelos—Portugal
  • Professor Alvaro Rodriguez Bereijo—Spain
  • Daniel Tarschys—Sweden

National Parliamentary Representatives

  • Win Griffiths, MP—United Kingdom
  • Lord Bowness—United Kingdom
  • Dr. Heinrich Neisser—Austria
  • Dr. Harald Ofner—Austria
  • Roger Lallemand—Belgium
  • Karel de Gucht—Belgium
  • Claus Larsen Jensen—Denmark
  • Ulla Tornaes—Denmark
  • Gunnar Jansson—Finland
  • Tuija Brax—Finland
  • Hubert Haenel—France
  • Francois Loncle—France
  • Professor Doctor Jurgen Meyer—Germany
  • Jurgen Gnauck—Germany
  • Georgios Romeos—Greece
  • Michael Liapis—Greece
  • Desmond O'Malley—Ireland
  • Bernard Durkan—Ireland
  • Piero Melograni—Italy
  • Andrea Manzella—Italy
  • Ben Fayot—Luxembourg
  • Simone Beissel—Luxembourg
  • Michiel Patijn—Netherlands
  • Ernst Hirsch Ballin—Netherlands
  • Jose Barros Moura—Portugal
  • Maria Eduarda Azevedo—Portugal
  • Gabriel Cisneros—Spain
  • Jordi Sole Tura—Spain
  • Goran Magnusson—Sweden
  • Lars F. Tobisson—Sweden

Members of the European Parliament

  • Inigo Mendez de Vigo
  • Charlotte Cederschiold
  • Thierry Cornillet
  • Ingo Friedrich
  • Timothy Kirkhope
  • Johanna Maij-Weggen
  • David Martin
  • Pervenche Beres
  • Hans-Peter Martin
  • Martin Schulz
  • Elena Paciotti
  • Andrew Duff
  • Johannes Voggenhuber
  • Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann
  • Georges Berthu
  • Jens-Peter Bonde

Commission

  • Antonio Vitorino

Most of the delegates also have Alternates. Lord Goldsmith's Alternate/Deputy is Martin Eaton, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Deputy Legal Adviser.

(b) The Convention agreed that instead of meeting in smaller working groups they would hold formal plenary sessions and more frequent informal sessions. First readings of draft articles should take place in the latter, with more formal decisions and additional readings left to the former.

A Drafting Committee ("Praesidium") composed of the chairperson, the vice-chairpersons (one from the EP representative, one from the national parliament representative, and the representative of the member state currently president of the Council), and the representative of the Commission, and assisted by the General Secretariat of the Council, prepares and circulates working drafts taking account of drafting proposals submitted by any member of the Body.

(c) The Convention has met five times so far, most recently on 20–21 March (plenary). Previous meetings were on 17 December 1999 (plenary), 1–2 February (plenary), 24–25 February and 2–3 March.

A further 12–13 meetings are planned on 27–28 March, 3–4 April, 27–28 April, 11–12 May, 22–23 May, 5–6 June (plenary), 19–20 June, 29–30 June, 17–18 July, 11–12 September (plenary), 25–26 September, 9–10 October (to be confirmed), and 18–19 October (plenary).

(d) My letter of 8 December 1999 to the chairs of the two European Scrutiny Committees has been placed in the Libraries as have papers by Lord Goldsmith to the Charter Convention. Both Lord Goldsmith and I are scheduled to give oral evidence on 5 April to the House of Lords Inquiry on the Charter. There have also been other opportunities—such as the adjournment debate on 16 February—to discuss the Charter. Parliament's two delegates to the Charter Convention provide a further channel for information on the negotiations.

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