EU paves way for radical reform

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union has launched a major initiative designed specifically to deal with its future development.

The Convention on the Future of Europe opened on Thursday at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Delegates from the EU's 15-member parliaments were joined by representatives of other candidate countries hoping to join.

In all, the convention will be made up of 105 politicians from 28 countries, plus members of the European Parliament and the European Commission.

One of the convention's main tasks will be how the EU will cope with enlargement which could see its membership double within a few years.

Other issues expected to be considered include national sovereignty, defence and economic considerations, not least taxation.

VIDEO A convention on the future of Europe could lead to a historic breakthrough. CNN's Robin Oakley reports (February 27) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: Changing Face of Europe    MORE STORIES • D'Estaing sets out vision for Europe  • Grand vision or talking shop

The convention will be headed by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, 76, one of the fathers of the European Monetary System that led to the euro single currency.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, whose country holds the bloc's rotating presidency, told the meeting that the EU was not in "an existential crisis" and called for a "new way of functioning to get through new stages."

He said: "It is however a fact that the world situation obliges the EU to accelerate its integration.

"Our future depends on the balance between the deep cultural unity of Europe and its obvious historical diversity.

"The political future of Europe has to be a pluralistic constitutionalism that respects the diversities of its member states."

D'Estaing said a successful convention would "open the way toward a constitution for Europe."

European Parliament President Pat Cox said: "In the annals of European treaty reform, I believe today marks a decisive and revolutionary step forward for European democracy and for the parliamentary method.

"This convention strikes a blow for openness and transparency, for innovation and creativity."

Currently the EU has a parliament of 626 members, a decision-making council of ministers headed by a different country every six months, and a commission of 20 to run the civil service.

Lord Brittan, a former UK European commissioner, sees difficulties in the very structure of the new body.

Ex-French president d'Estaing has compared the assembly with the U.S. Constitution

"It's not just representatives of governments, but representatives of oppositions, representatives of parliaments and representatives even of countries which aren't yet members of the EU, so you have to suck it and see," he told CNN.

"Nobody's tried this approach before, and I don't envy Giscard d'Estaing, who has to try to see if he can get some kind of consensus out of them."

CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said: "A key question for the new convention is how to make European institutions more user-friendly.

"Many European citizens -- like Britain's so-called metric martyrs, who are fighting to go on using pounds and ounces instead of kilos and grams -- object to having laws forced on them at a supra-national level.

"The convention will be expected to pronounce too on the question of EU competences. The EU nations will be looking to it to recommend what powers should be exercised at union level and which should be left to the nation states.

"The battles will be conducted at considerable cost -- and in the EU's 11 languages at that."