As the dust settles after the Laeken euro-summit, the Conservatives are demanding representation on a key Europe-wide constitutional convention that will decide the future of the EU.

The convention holds its inaugural meeting on March 1, 2002, meeting for a year, and setting the agenda for an inter-governmental conference that will revise the European treaty in 2004.

The shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram, believes that the Conservatives should have a place at the table.

"If this a genuine convention looking at all options for the future of Europe it will need to look at all views. We would expect our view to be represented," he told this website.

Two representatives from the Westminster parliament will join a convention comprised of 15 representatives from the EU member states, 30 from national parliaments, 16 MEPs and two commissioners.

The decision on the UK members must be taken in the early New Year.

Parliamentary representatives "are likely" to be chosen by the Commons, rather than the government. A Downing Street spokesman told ePolitix that no discussions had yet taken place on names or the process of selection.

Labour backbench veteran Andrew MacKinlay has warned the government not to "parachute" an on-message MP into the new body.

"My fear is that the government will nominate one of their chosen anointed people in the house of Commons rather than it be the choice of the house of Commons," he said.

"This should be a house of Commons matter. It is part of our battle to make parliament more relevant."

The appointment of the government's representative is set to be a clear marker of Downing Street's European intentions.

Tony Blair is said to have decided that the national representative will not be a minister.

Names that top the list are reported to be disgraced former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and former Downing street policy chief David Miliband.

Mandelson may still be close to Number 10 but his appointment would be a political risk.

Not only would it revive uncomfortable memories of the Hinduja passport affair but the Hartlepool MP's recent calls for more QMV decision making at European councils and a call for European tax harmonisation, starting with an EU wide green tax, seems at odds with Downing Street's habitual euro-caution.

Writing last week for Policy Network, Mandelson has demanded a shift "from unanimity to qualified majority voting" - a call unlikely to chime with the UK's negotiating position of voluntary cooperation and "red lines" around vetoes.

If Blair opts for someone who is not a minister, then Miliband is a favoured candidate having served on the Group of Laeken, a top-level consultative body set up by the EU presidency ahead of last weekend's summit.