Press Release
17th June 2003

GREEN 8 CALL FOR EXTENSION AND EXPANDED MANDATE FOR EUROPEAN CONVENTION

Brussels (17 June, 2003) – The eight largest European environmental organisations, the Green Eight, are calling on the European Council at Thessaloniki this Friday to back an extension and a revised mandate for the Convention on the Future of Europe.

The 8 organisations, which count more than 20 million members and supporters in Europe - the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace, WWF, Friends of Nature International, the European Federation for Transport and Environment, BirdLife International and Climate Network Europe – say it is vital that a meaningful extension is given to the Convention.

“Without this, the Union’s policies will remain an antiquated set of provisions reflecting the priorities of a Europe of 50 years ago,“ warn the Green Eight. All 8 groups want to see a longer extension for the Convention to consider Part III of the Constitutional Treaty than the few weeks that Valery Giscard d’Estaing is expected to ask the EU summit for on Friday.

“We believe not only that an extension is a necessity, but also that it must be longer than a couple of weeks in order to have dialogue with and gain the backing of civil society for necessary revisions of the policy chapters presented in Part III,” say the G8 in their letter to the European Council (attached).

The G8 points out that revisions to policies such as agriculture, as well as economic, social and territorial cohesion, and transport, are still needed for the policy chapters in the Constitutional Treaty, in order to avoid internal Constitutional contradictions, and to reflect the EU’s overall objective of sustainable development.

“Given that the Laeken mandate is seen by part of the Convention as not broad enough for looking at the content of such policies, we urge you to call upon the Convention to explicitly advise you on how the formulations and objectives of the EU’s policy areas need to be amended,” the Green 8 say.

Contacts for further information:
John Hontelez, Secretary-General, EEB, tel: +32 2 289 1090; fax +32 2 289 1099;
email: hontelez@eeb.org ; also see www.eeb.org
Martin Rocholl, Director, Friends of the Earth Europe, tel.: +32-2-542-0180,
email: martin.rocholl@foeeurope.org
Clairie Papazoglou, Head, BirdLife International European Community Office, tel. +32 2 280 08 30;
fax +32 2 230 38 02; email: clairie.papazoglou@birdlifeeco.net
Karla Schoeters, Director, Climate Action Network Europe, tel: 0032-22295224/0; fax: 0032-22295229; email: karla@climnet.org
Manfred Pils, Secretary-General, Friends of Nature International, tel: 00431 892 38 77;
fax: 00431 812 97 89; email: nfi@nfi.at
Jorgo Iwasaki-Riss, EU Policy Director, Greenpeace European Unit, tel: +32 2 274 1900;
fax: +32 2 274 1910; email: jorgo.riss@diala.greenpeace.org
Beatrice Schell, Director, European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E),
tel: +32 2 502 99 09, email: info@t-e.nu
Tony Long, Director, WWF European Policy Office, tel: +32 2 740 0925; email: tlong@wwfepo.org;
also see www.panda.org/epo