The Report of the Comité des Sages: “For a Europe of civic and social rights”*

My purpose here is to present the Report of the Comité des Sages, ¹ "For a Europe of civic and social rights" – a document which has constituted a part of the process of the Inter-governmental Conference on the revision of the Treaties, which has been the prelude to the signing of the Treaty of Amsterdam, on 2 October 1997. ² That document will continue to have an influence well beyond the conclusion of the Inter-Governmental Conference, since, as we shall see, one of its proposals is specifically concerned with the establishment of a new Inter-Governmental Conference on the revision of the Treaties, dealing specifically with social rights.