Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 2002 > Committee on European Affairs > Report - Annual Report of the Joint Committee on European Affairs, 2000

Appendix Three

Terms of Reference / National Forum on Europe

The National Forum on Europe will provide the basis for an inclusive and broadly-based debate on Ireland’s participation in the European Union, and on the overall functioning and future development of the Union. In this regard, and in the context of the issues raised by the debate on the Treaty of Nice, the Forum will examine Ireland’s experience of and evolving relationship with the Union, and consider the implications for the Union, and for Ireland as a member, of the extensive enlargement now in prospect.

Against this background of significant expansion in the membership of the Union, and with a view to contributing to the wider review now under way among all Member States, the Forum will also consider the range of issues which arise in relation to the Future of Europe debate which is intended to culminate in a further Intergovernmental Conference in 2004. These issues will include the topics identified by the Heads of State or Government at the European Council in Nice in December 2000.

In its first phase, to conclude within about three months, the Forum will focus on the implications of, and the preparations for, the proposed Enlargement of the EU. It will also consider the organisation and structure for the debate on the Future of Europe, which are to be decided at the Laeken European Council in December 2001.

The Forum may, as it so decides, present a report or reports.