EU Constitution "Lite"

Angela Merkel is trying to push through a "lite" version of the trashed EU Constitution by weasel-wording the original version. She says in the letter leaked to the Times:

“Every effort will have to be made to restrict change to what is absolutely necessary to reach an overall agreement and to ensure ratification by all member states.”

She then posed a dozen key questions, including: “How do you assess the proposal made by some member states to use different terminology without changing the legal substance — for example with regard to the title of the treaty, the denomination of legal acts, and the union’s minister of foreign affairs.”

In the same way, she asks whether to “replace the full text of the Charter of Fundamental Rights by a short cross reference having the same legal value”. As proposed by Mr Blair, the replacement for the Constitution could be presented as a treaty that amends the Nice Treaty of 2001, she said, “with the necessary presentational changes resulting from the return to the classical method of treaty changes”.

Mr Blair was trumpeting on about this the day before here. He says in the interview with European newspapers and the Financial Times,

that the plan proposed by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, will not be a “constitutional treaty” that alters the relationship between Europe and member states, thus avoiding a referendum. But he steers clear of saying how far the treaty will go in extending qualified majority voting and installing a permanent Council president.

So here we go again having failed to get this through the normal methods of democracy and having been thrown out in both France and Netherlands, a few changes will make it all right and nobody has to approve it let alone put it to a referendum

Let me quote from the inimitable SeanT on PoliticalBetting

Unbelievable. They are nakedly - brazenly - trying to bring back a Treaty already voted down in two states, and this time trying to avoid a referendum by minor cosmetic changes. Utterly disgraceful. If you believe in Europe - and many good, honest people do - you cannot want your project to proceed in this fashion: by deception of the people, by treachery, evasion and sleight of hand.

Just give us a vote. That’s all we want. Whoever wins, wins. But let us vote.

Blair is the most disgusting man in the history of modern British politics. May he rot in Hell, if Hell will have him.

I'd agree with SeanT all the way on this.


Merkel revives a slimline constitution