European union leaders have agreed to issue an unprecedented statement outlining the EU's weaknesses and acknowledging the fears that many European;s share about it's influence. At a summit last night in Belgian city of Ghent the leaders agreed that the declaration, to be made when they meet in the Royal Palace at Laeken in December, should include a frank assessment of the Union's shortcomings.
Belgian's prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, who chaired the meeting, said that the leaders wanted the Laeken Declaration to represent a departure from their usual way of communicating with the European people.
" We all want an ambitious statement, not the usual sort of thing. The idea is not to say that the EU is doing fine and we're going to press on regardless", he said.
The declaration will announce the establishment of a convention to discuss the future of the EU and to prepare for a treaty-making summit in 2004.
The convention will include representatives from national governments and parliaments, the European Parliament and the European Commission. It will be chaired by a president, who will be named at Laeken, and run by a five-person presidium.
A network of NGOs, universities and European think-tanks will feed into the convention, making suggestions and sometimes being called upon to make presentations.
If a consensus emerges on a particular issue, the convention will draw up a text stating its position. If there is no consensus, the convention will outline the options, indicating which has majority support.
Among the issues to be discussed is division of responsibilities between the EU and member-states. Mr Verhofstadt suggested that the EU should make more use of the framework legislation that would allow member-states to fill in the details of the measures involved.
But he said the EU needed more competence in area such as foreign policy, defence and asylum and migration issues.
