Declaration of Laeken

The Déclaration of Laeken is the final declaration of the European top of Laeken on December 15th 2001, which convenes the Convention on the future of Europe.

One can consider at least a posteriori that it marks an important turning in the European Construction, on two levels:

a methodological turning: the negotiations of Nice in December 2000 having shown the crisis of the model of the traditional intergovernmental negotiation, one decides to join together an assembly of a new kind, devoted entirely to the reflection on the deepening of European integration. It includes/understands not only representatives of the States, but also of the representatives of the European Parliament, national parliaments and European commission.
a political turning: the main aim of the debates is not only any more the widening of the field of competence of the European Union, but a total reflection on the European democracy, its organization and its future. It is this change of objective which leads finally to the Traité establishing a constitution for Europe , without the development of such a text explicitly forming part of the mandate of Convention on the future of Europe

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