The Praesidium is an 11 member steering group which works with the European Convention. It is responsible for setting the Convention agenda and overseeing it's progress. The Praesidium's members are drawn from the ranks of the European Convention members according to a set of principles, currently

  • The Convention Chairman
    • Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing (Chairman)

  • The Convention Vice Chairmen
    • Mr Giuliano Amato
    • Mr Jean-Luc Dehaene

  • Representatives of all the governments holding the Presidency of the Union through the Conventions life
    • Mr Alfonso Dastis
    • Mr Henning Christopherson
    • Mr Georges Papandreou

  • Two representatives from national parliaments
    • Mr John Bruton
    • Ms Gisela Stuart

  • Two representatives of the European Parliament
    • Mr Michel Barnier
    • Mr Antonio Vitorino

The Praesidium also includes a representative of the EU candidate nations, currently Mr Alojz Peterle.

The Praesidium drafted the European Constitution, and since its draft has worked with the larger Convention to attempt to deal with the various controversial issues in that draft.

External Links

[The European Convention]