Seanad debates
Wednesday, 26 February 2003
Convention on the Future of Europe: Statements.
The way the working groups operated was an attempt to find consensus in as many areas as possible. The idea was not to exclude any view, but to try to reflect the weight of those views. In the reports, some ideas are expressed as unanimous views of the working group, some have broad support while others have minority support. If a view was expressed strongly by, for example, a significant Government representative on a working group, that would also be reflected in the report. The idea was to reflect the debate and the weight of any of those ideas. It should be borne in mind that there was no way of guaranteeing that the weight of political viewpoints would be reflected equally in all of the working groups. That was the case in the social policy working group, for example, where there was a significant left of centre view. Nevertheless, we managed to ensure that there was a reflection of all views in the working group.
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