EUROPEAN CONVENTION: The President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, has agreed to debate the future of Europe with the president of the European Convention, Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
Mr Giscard challenged Mr Prodi to a public debate over proposals to appoint a full-time president of the European Council, which many observers believe would undermine the authority of the commission president.
Mr Giscard proposed that the debate should be televised and that viewers should vote on the rival plans for Europe's future. But in a letter to the former French president yesterday, Mr Prodi said that the convention itself was the best place to hold the debate.
"I am of course disposed to take part in a public debate which explains to citizens our ideas on how to make the union's institutional system simpler, more efficient and democratically responsible," Mr Prodi said.
The convention is drawing up a constitutional treaty for the EU, which will be presented to European leaders next month. The leaders are not bound by the convention's conclusions and will negotiate the final draft of the treaty in an inter-governmental conference. The convention's 105 members, drawn from national governments, national parliaments, the European Parliament and the commission, will this week discuss the most controversial element of the draft treaty - the reform of EU institutions.