In an independent report on the institutional implications of enlargement submitted to the European Commission on 18 October 1999, Richard von Weizsäcker, Jean-Luc Dehaene and David Simon propose a comprehensive reform of the institutional system of the European Union on the basis of a reorganisation of the Treaties.

In this article, José Luis da Cruz Vilaça, President of the Court of First Instance from 1989 to 1995, supports the idea that the European Union, in constitutionalising its Treaties, has gradually established a constitution, of which the Court of Justice has identified the main aspects. Nevertheless, the process of constitutionalisation will remain incomplete so long as the Member States alone retain the power to adopt a constitution.

In a speech delivered on 12 May 2000 at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Joschka Fischer, German Foreign Minister, speaks in a private capacity in the debate on the future of the European Union. He proposes that a constitutional treaty be concluded which establishes a European Federation based on the principle of subsidiarity.

On 16 June 2000, in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, Alain Juppé, former French Prime Minister, and Jacques Toubon, former Justice Minister, present and outline their Gaullist-inspired draft Constitution for Europe.

In a speech delivered in Warsaw on 6 October 2000, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, upholds the vision of a European Union which, while retaining its unique intergovernmental and supranational structure, will become a superpower comprising equal partner Nation States but not a superstate. In his opinion, in place of a European Constitution, it would be preferable to draw up a statement of principles, serving as a charter of competences, which would be a political, not a legal document.

On 3 and 4 June 1999, the Cologne European Council emphasises the need to draw up a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and proposes that, once solemnly proclaimed, it could then be incorporated into the Treaties.

On 15 and 16 October 1999, the Tampere European Council, following up the Cologne conclusions, clarifies the composition, working method and the practical arrangements for the body to draw up a draft EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

In 2001, the Nice Intergovernmental Conference (CIG) calls for a deeper and wider debate with all interested parties about the future of the European Union.

European Parliament resolution of 31 May 2001 incorporating Parliament’s opinion on the Treaty of Nice and the Declaration on the Future of Europe. The European Parliament notes that the Treaty of Nice removes the last remaining formal obstacle to enlargement but considers that a Union of 27 or more Member States requires more thoroughgoing reforms in order to guarantee democracy, effectiveness, transparency, clarity and governability.

Rapport d'information sur l'idée d'une Constitution pour l'Union européenne, présenté le 7 juin 2001 au Sénat français par Hubert Haenel au nom de la délégation pour l'Union européenne.

In its resolution of 29 November 2001 on the constitutional process and the future of the Union, the European Parliament ‘considers that the aim of the 2003 Intergovernmental Conference must be a Constitution for the European Union’.