Thin Black Line
Member
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/10/nbrown110.xml
Keep in mind that Blair has resigned and will leave office by the end of
this month.
Looks like everything is going according to schedule.....
Keep in mind that Blair has resigned and will leave office by the end of
this month.
Dilemma for Brown as Blair plans EU deal
By Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:55am BST 10/06/2007
Labour has been plunged into a bruising referendum row after Tony Blair secretly agreed the blueprint for a new European treaty - presenting Gordon Brown, the prime minister-in-waiting, with his first big dilemma.
Less than three weeks before he relinquishes power, Mr Blair held talks on the framework for the treaty, an updated version of the failed European Union constitution, with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.
The controversial manoeuvre, at the G8 summit in Germany, came despite a promise to MPs by Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, that "nothing you could really call negotiations" had taken place.
As MPs protested that the new treaty would include many measures contained in the EU constitution that was shelved after being voted down by the French and Dutch electorates in 2005, David Cameron led calls for a fresh referendum.
The Conservative leader told The Sunday Telegraph: "Any treaty that is about the transfer of powers to the EU must be put to the country in a referendum."
Labour MPs joined the referendum call and said that the row over the new treaty would be the first big test of Mr Brown's premiership, which will begin days after Mr Blair attends a crucial EU summit in Brussels in a fortnight. One said: "It's decision time for Gordon."
In 2004, Mr Blair promised there would be a referendum in Britain on the original EU constitution in an about-turn following months of government insistence that no public vote was necessary.
He declared: "Let the people have the final say."
But the Prime Minister was rescued from almost certain defeat by "No" votes in both France and Holland a year later, causing the constitution to be sidelined and British referendum plans to be postponed.
Later this month, however, in what will be his last big diplomatic gesture before -stepping down, Mr Blair will sign Britain up to the new treaty, which is designed to increase the EU's power and to enact many of the proposals originally planned for the constitution.
It will establish a permanent EU president, with a 2½-year term of office, who is likely to be a former head of government from an EU country. Opponents fear this will pave the way for future presidents to be directly elected by voters in member states.
The treaty will also set up a new EU "foreign minister" with the power to represent member states on key international bodies such as the United Nations Security Council.
Also included will be a big shake-up of the voting system among member states which, it is estimated, will cut Britain's ability to "block" unwanted legislation by about 30 per cent. This could end the opt-out from the EU working-time directive, for example, as well as other proposals objected to by Britain, including granting more rights to criminal suspects.
The treaty, the brainchild of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, may also contain moves to give the European Court of Justice a bigger say over British criminal law.
A leaked letter from Mrs Merkel revealed last month that the treaty would have much the same "legal substance" as the failed constitution, but that it would make "presentational changes" and use "different terminology".
Despite Mrs Beckett's assurance to MPs, Mr Sarkozy declared at the end of last week's G8 summit in Heiligendamm: "Tony Blair and I have just agreed on what might be the framework for a simplified treaty. That is quite something."
Mr Blair and other ministers have insisted that a referendum is not needed this time round because they claim the new treaty is different from the proposed constitution.
Frank Field, the former social security minister, said: "One of the more popular things Tony Blair did was promising a referendum. Going back on that is against all the rhetoric of a government which says it wants to reconnect with a disillusioned if not hostile electorate.
"Now there is a real requirement to get approval for this and he [Mr Brown] will be the prime minister when that happens. It is decision time for Gordon."
Mr Brown is understood to be "concerned" about the progress of the negotiations and to be insisting that Britain has an opt-out from any proposal to resurrect the constitution's "fundamental charter for human rights".
He also strongly opposes any threat to Britain's sovereignty in justice, home affairs and social security legislation.
Neil O'Brien, the director of the Open Europe think-tank, said: "The Government plan to break their promise to hold a referendum. They think that voters will be fooled just because they've changed the name of the constitution. They are treating us like idiots. So much for Brown's promise to listen to the public."
Leading Tories rallied round Mr Cameron's call for a vote. Stuart Wheeler, one of the party's biggest donors, said: "Let's have a referendum. That is absolutely right. I wish the Conservatives would be more Eurosceptic."
John Redwood, the former cabinet minister and the chairman of the Tories' economic competitiveness commission, said: "Gordon Brown will play the angry Eurosceptic and shrug his shoulders. He ought to veto it."
A Downing Street spokesman confirmed: "The Prime Minister and President Sarkozy did discuss the EU Treaty. There is broad agreement in the sense that they both think that any treaty must be an amending one rather than a constitutional treaty."
Looks like everything is going according to schedule.....
