Paris, 30 July 2003: The Assembly, in cooperation with the Italian EU/WEU-Presidency, is to hold a conference on “New Scenarios for European Security and Defence” on 22-24 September 2003, in Baveno, Italy.

The conference, which will be attended by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini is divided into three parts (a draft programme is attached).

The first session aims to reflect on possible scenarios for European security and defence policy taking the Middle East as an example. The conference will then assess the provisions regarding the European Union’s foreign, security and defence policy as proposed by the draft constitution submitted by the Convention to the Italian Presidency and explore whether it needs to be further developed by the upcoming Intergovernmental Conference. Mrs Danuta Hübner, Polish Minister for European Affairs and member of the European Convention will speak during the second session on “Foreign policy and common defence in the future European Constitution”.

A final session is dedicated to the question of whether the European defence industry would be able to deliver the capabilities for the kind of missions member states foresee under the ESDP. Speakers include Giorgio Zappa, Chairman and CEO of Alenia.

“Together with the Italian Presidency – for which giving the European Union a strong and significant role in the Middle East and successfully preparing the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) are top priorities – we have set ourselves an ambitious conference goal. We hope that our conference, which will take place shortly before the IGC is scheduled to commence its task of revising the draft Constitutional Treaty submitted by the Convention, will contribute to clarifying the potential and limitations of the European Union as a player in international crisis management”, said Marcel Glesener, President of the Assembly, who will be opening the conference together with the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Pierferdinando Casini.

Please return the attached registration form if you wish to participate. A limited number of invitations to journalists covering travel expenses are available. Updates of the programme can be downloaded from the Assembly website, Activities section (http://assemblee-ueo.itnetwork.fr/en/actualites/actualites.php).