The Lie of David Miliband Britain's dishonourable Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary

The transcript of yesterday's exchanges on the one question on the EU Reform Treaty put by Andrew Marr on the Sunday AM programme is as follows:

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ANDREW MARR: .... It's been said about you that you are a keener European than some of the other holders of your post over the last few years.

Do you buy at all the argument that although there's been lots of changes made at the margins to what was the constitution, there is still something there which is big enough that it would require a referendum of the British people if it's going to be put through.

DAVID MILIBAND: In short, no. The first clause of the mandate that was agreed by twenty seven heads of government last month says the constitution has been abandoned. Not reformed. Not ameliorated. Abandoned.

We're not going to have a new constitution for Europe. We're amending the way Europe works to make it work better. And frankly we can get away from the institutional arguments and onto delivering what really matters about the environment, about climate change, about crime, about the economy.

That's what's going to matter. And I think that Europe has suffered more from a delivery deficit than a democratic deficit. And it's the delivery deficit that we have to rectify. And it's Europe making a difference for people in areas that are genuinely international that I think really, really is the focus of European policy.

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That statement may be verified from the BBC web page linked from here.

As I reported on this blog yesterday, the first clause of that mandate actually says the following:

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I. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

1. The IGC is asked to draw up a Treaty (hereinafter called "Reform Treaty") amending the existing Treaties with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the enlarged Union, as well as the coherence of its external action. The constitutional concept, which consisted in repealing all existing Treaties and replacing them by a single text called "Constitution", is abandoned. The Reform Treaty will introduce into the existing Treaties, which remain in force, the innovations resulting from the 2004 IGC, as set out below in a detailed fashion.
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Read more from yesterday's posting linked here.