Britain and Sarkozy's fast-tracked simplified constitution

The following exchange took place at yesterday's Prime Minister's Questions in parliament: 23 May 2007 : Column 1274

Andrew Mackinlay (Thurrock) (Lab): Will the Prime Minister invite the Chancellor of the Exchequer to accompany him to the European Union summit? Does he realise that not to do so would appear churlish and discourteous and that the British people require that the Prime Minister-elect be there, accompanying him and sharing in decisions that cannot be reversed?

The Prime Minister: I assure my hon. Friend that the position that is taken in the European summit will be the position of the Government. We have already set out that position: we do not want a constitutional treaty; we want a simplifying amending treaty, and I am sure that we will manage to get it.

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The following is the opening of the latest electronic newsletter from Brussels by Roger Helmer MEP:

Angela Merkel and the Constitution

The German Presidency has sent out an interrogatory to member states about reintroducing the EU Constitution. It proposes "using different terminology without changing the legal substance, for example with regard to the title, the denomination of legal acts and the Minister for Foreign Affairs", and also "replacing the Charter of Fundamental Rights with a short cross reference having the same legal value" (my emphasis).

This is dishonest. It is downright deliberate deceit. They will tell us that it is a new, less threatening "treaty" when they know that the legal effect is unchanged. They will subvert the independence of our country with a lie. Words fail me. But to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

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