Alternative treaty gives hope to a European constitution

Alternative treaty gives hope to a European constitution
By Stephen Castle in Brussels
Published: 21 April 2007
Independent UK

Prospects of resuscitating key parts of Europe's constitution increased sharply yesterday as Tony Blair led a new bandwagon to avoid holding referendums across Europe on a new, alternative, treaty.

Britain's manoeuvre removes one of the main obstacles to efforts to salvage key elements of the constitution which was voted down by the French and the Dutch in plebiscites in 2005 after the threat of rejection by the voters.

The change of heart improves the prospects of getting agreement on a new text by the end of this year but provoked opposition claims that the constitution would be sneaked in "by the back door". It also marks a retreat by the UK's pro-Europeans who once argued that only a referendum victory would remove the poison from the EU issue in Britain and silence the Eurosceptics.

In fact, across the EU, policy-makers now accept that it is virtually impossible to win plebiscites in all the key countries in the 27-nation bloc. In addition to the UK the Netherlands now hopes to avoid a referendum and Nicholas Sarkozy, the front-runner in the French presidential elections, has said he would not put a new treaty to the people.

Another country with Eurosceptic public opinion, Denmark, is considering its position and its Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said that an agreement might not require a popular vote. Mr Blair's announcement was seen as helpful to Mr Rasmussen.

That could mean Ireland, which voted against the Nice Treaty in the first of two referendums, being the only country to host a plebiscite this time. It is likely to do so because its constitution requires a referendum if national sovereignty is transferred. That means leaders risk the humiliation of being forced to hold a vote by the Supreme Court if they fail to put a treaty to the people.

In an interview with the Financial Times and other European newspapers, Mr Blair made it clear that the UK will only sign up to a scaled down version of the constitution, one which extracts only the changes needed to streamline decision-making.

Mr Blair added: "If it's not a constitutional treaty, so that it alters the basic relationship between Europe and the member states then there isn't the same case for a referendum."

His comments are in line with those made after a meeting with the Dutch premier, Jan Peter Balkenende, who also backed the idea of a "mini-treaty" which simply amends existing EU agreements rather than replacing them.

Nevertheless a series of obstacles remain. The first is the prospect that the French presidential elections are won by Ségolène Royal, the socialist candidate, who has promised a referendum.

Moreover the British and Dutch positions raise the question of whether EU nations will be able to agree on a text. Eighteen nations have already ratified the constitution and most of them want to keep a text as close as possible to the current one.

Meanwhile the decision to axe a referendum has already provoked a domestic reaction in the UK where Mr Blair is due to stand down within weeks.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said; "What he [Mr Blair] is saying now sounds suspiciously like an attempt to introduce elements of it by the back door, despite its decisive rejection by the voters of France and Holland.

"This would go against the government's previous assurances and be totally unacceptable to the people of Britain."