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British premier under fire over EU Treaty

by Vanessa Mock

22-10-2007

The British Prime Minister is struggling to bat off growing demands to hold a referendum on the new EU treaty, agreed at last week's summit in Lisbon.
 

Eurosceptics set up a giant inflatable ballot box outside the summit venue, while inside the building, Gordon Brown was taunted by the British press.
 

British PM Gordon Brown

"We have defended our national interests," Mr Brown reiterated with almost embarrassing frequency just after EU leaders clinched a late-night deal on the reform treaty - an event provocatively described in one tabloid as "The Last Supper''.
 
"I repeat that if this had been about decision on the old Constitution, we would have had a referendum. But we've removed those items in the old treaty about which we were unhappy," he insisted.
 
'Give us a say' 
The embattled Premier faces an uphill battle in convincing the public that national sovereignty has been safeguarded.
 
"This is basically the same treaty. Our 'red lines', the opt-outs that the government negotiated, are not watertight," says British campaigner Hugo Robinson, standing next to six-metre-high, rubber ballot box that was flown over for the Lisbon summit. 
"We should have a say on whether we hand more powers over to Europe. In denying the referendum, Mr Brown is backtracking on a commitment to democracy." Mr Robinson works for Open Society, a eurosceptic think-tank that is leading a cinema and newspaper campaign for a referendum. The ballot box will pop up across the British Isles as part of the campaign. "We know it will be tough but this is a burning issue now in the UK," he says.
 
Talking up the EU 
Only Ireland is constitutionally required to have a referendum on the more modest treaty, which replaces the Constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

In other member states, the new document only needs to be ratified by national parliaments.
 

Hugo Robinson (left) campaigner for a referendum

But opposition parties across the EU, such as Denmark, are cranking up the heat on national governments to hold a vote.
 
Over 70 percent of Europeans - including Germans, Spaniards and Italians - would like a say on the treaty, according to a new poll by the Financial Times.
 
Andrew Duff, a member of the European's Constitutional Affairs Committee at the European Parliament, predicts that 'nationalists, especially in the UK, will just keep on growing stronger'.
 
"Governments urgently needs to learn how to talk positively about the successes of the EU, especially in the UK."
 
Scared of a No 
But most European governments will avoid a referendum like the plague for fear of a repeat of the 'No' votes in 2005. This sparked a crisis of confidence in the EU and over two years of wrangling over how to replace the aborted Constitution.
 
"The Dutch certainly won't get a vote," states Dutch Minister for European Affairs, Frans Timmermans. 

"People are fed up with Europe because of the endless talk of treaties and rules of the game. Let's finally stop this debate and start doing the job we need to do for our citizens." But the governments will not be home and dry until they have completed the ratification process, scheduled for 2009.
 
"The unexpected can always happen,'' says Andrew Duff.

 

Tags: Britain, EU, EU Constitution, Gordon Brown, Netherlands, Referendum, United Kingdom

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