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Thursday, 11 October 2007 |
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In June, we carried coverage here on ConstitutionWatch about Sarkozy reforming “free and undistorted” competition from the Constitution Reform Treaty: In a bizarre and disturbing development in last night’s EU Treaty talks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has managed to secure the dropping of a commitment to “free and undistorted” competition as one of the EU’s stated aims – a reference which has been included in every treaty since 1957. This is apparently in reaction to analysis of the French “No” vote on the Treaty in 2005, which underlined voters’ hostility about the supposed neo-liberal economics enshrined in the document.
Libertas ConstitutionWatch, June 2007 Almost Five months later, Professor Alan Riley, a competition expert at City Law School at City University London has written a report calling on Britain to veto the Constitution Reform Treaty in order to save the market. The report was covered by today’s UK Telegraph . The EU deal to strip the words “free and undistorted” competition from the core objectives of the European Union will make it impossible to police the single market.
The document relegates competition to second tier status for the first time since the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The goal of achieving a “high level of employment and social protection” will have a higher legal status. “This is far from a minor technical adjustment,” said Professor Riley. Professor Riley has also said that the European Court may have an obligation to favour social rights over the free market. |
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Thursday, 11 October 2007 |
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UK MINISTERS have not done enough to convince voters that they do not need to have a referendum on the European reform treaty, the Foreign Secretary conceded yesterday. David Miliband made the admission after Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, endured a parliamentary battering from the Conservatives over his opposition to a referendum.
Meanwhile, in the same article, The Scotsman suggests that Scotland could, by itself, hold a referendum on the Constitution Reform Treaty. UK MINISTERS have not done enough to convince voters that they do not need to have a referendum on the European reform treaty, the Foreign Secretary conceded yesterday. David Miliband made the admission after Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, endured a parliamentary battering from the Conservatives over his opposition to a referendum. Meanwhile, in the same article, The Scotsman suggests that Scotland could, by itself, hold a referendum on the Constitution Reform Treaty. |
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Wednesday, 10 October 2007 |
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Danish opposition leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt has made an apparent U-turn on her party’s position on a referendum on the Reform Treaty by calling for a “political” as well as a “legal” discussion on the final document which is to be agreed at next weekend’s Lisbon summit. She has denied her rethink on the issue has anything to do with rumours of an early general election. Full story in EU Observer . |
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Tuesday, 09 October 2007 |
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From the BBC News site The EU treaty is “substantially equivalent” to the EU Constitution thrown out by Dutch and French voters in 2005, MPs have said.
The European scrutiny committee said it should be “made clear” the UK can keep opt-outs of parts of the document.
The Conservatives said the government was now “morally bound” to hold a referendum on the treaty, as had been promised on the Constitution.
But ministers say the two documents are “substantially” different.
The treaty incorporates some of the old EU Constitution, on which Labour had promised a referendum before it was scuppered by the Dutch and French votes.
The Conservatives argue it is as much as 90% the same. It would seem that Gordon Brown is being very insincere about the constitution, refusing to run a referendum one for fear of losing it, much in the same way he dithered recently over whether to call a General Election, as poll showed a strong opposition likely to a make a campaign difficult for Brown. |
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Monday, 08 October 2007 |
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According to EU Observer this morning, Polish President Lech Kaczynski is to meet his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris today to discuss Poland’s dissatisfaction with the compromise treaty. With a keen eye on parliamentary elections immediately after the Lisbon summit at which the treaty is to be agreed, Kaczinsky will be seeking to make political capital from his demands to ensure a decision-blocking mechanism is written into the rehashed constitution to enable a member state to delay legislation if it hurts its interests. |
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The Lisbon Treaty 
