'Open Method of Coordination' (OMC) means an intergovernmental method providing a framework for cooperation between the Member States, whose national policies can thus be directed towards certain common objectives; within the scope of the Programme, the OMC applies to education, training and youth.

C. the quality of the Convention's work on the preparation of the draft Constitution and the reform of the Treaties fully vindicates the decision of the Laeken European Council to move away from the intergovernmental method by adopting Parliament's proposal for the setting up of a constitutional Convention; the result of the Convention, in which the representatives of the European Parliament and of national parliaments played a central role, shows that open discussions within the Convention are far more successful than the method followed up to now of intergovernmental conferenc ...[+++]es held in camera,

C. the quality of the Convention's work on the preparation of the draft Constitution and the reform of the Treaties fully vindicates the decision of the Laeken European Council to move away from the intergovernmental method by adopting Parliament's proposal for the setting up of a constitutional Convention; the result of the Convention, in which the representatives of the European Parliament and of national Parliaments played a central role, shows that open discussions within the Convention are by far more successful than the method followed up to now of intergovernmental conferenc ...[+++]es held in camera,

The intergovernmental method will be complemented by the Community method, rather than being abolished, which is perfectly reasonable, given that the European Union is a union of nations and a union of states.

In the Resolution of 17 November 1997, which I had the honour to present together with Dimitri Tsatsos, with regard to the Treaty of Amsterdam, we were already saying that the intergovernmental method for the revision of the Treaties had run its course and that we would have to look for another method.

Underpinning this historical development, or rather, this need, which implies new requirements and commitments, and thereby changes Europe and requires it to make progress, is the certainty that the Tampere programme, which involves moving from the intergovernmental method to the Community method, will lead to the communitisation of judicial cooperation, because this is what the governments of the Fifteen wanted, because the work of the Commission and of Commissioner Vitorino must not be betrayed by ongoing hesitancy on the grounds of sovereignty and, most importantly, because the situation today requires Europe to have a legal and crimi ...[+++]nal protection system that serves as the primary instrument for combating international and cross-border crime.