Britain and Germany facing EU treaty clash
By David Rennie in Brussels
07/12/2006
Germany yesterday unveiled a master plan for resurrecting the European Union constitution (even though the French and Dutch democratically voted against it), setting the stage for a pitched political battle with Britain pushed firmly into the front lines.
Germany takes over the rotating presidency of the EU on Jan 1 [[that's something to look forward to]] and the chancellor, Angela Merkel, has pledged to use it to resurrect the constitution, which has been in the deep freeze since last year's No votes in France and Holland.
However, Mrs Merkel has conceded that the treaty will have to lose the name "constitution", to avoid frightening voters.
At a summit next June, Germany plans to hand EU leaders a timetable for reviving the lion's share of the EU constitution, Germany's ambassador to the EU, Wilhelm Schönfelder, disclosed at a briefing yesterday.
Mr Schönfelder said Germany wanted a new draft text for a constitution to be on the table by the end of next year, in order to allow national governments of the EU to spend 2008 ratifying the new treaty.
That tight timetable was necessary to achieve Mrs Merkel's wish to have something close to the constitution in place by the next European parliamentary elections in May 2009, he said.
In its details, and its timing, the German plan presents Gordon Brown, in particular, with a headache. Assuming that Mr Brown becomes prime minister in May or June next year, as is widely predicted, in his first weeks or days in office he will find himself under immediate pressure to revisit a treaty that hands sweeping powers to Europe – creating a single European foreign minister, a single president of the EU, and abolishing national vetoes on vast swathes of policy.
Any attempt to revive the treaty, or even large chunks of it, will offer the Conservatives an instant open goal, as they can demand that Mr Brown pledge to hold a referendum of the British public, before agreeing to any new EU pact.
Germany is already seeking to make Britain look isolated, should Mr Brown resist returning to the treaty and senior German politicians have already threatened the UK with ejection to an outer circle of Europe, if Britain says No to a revised constitution.
Mr Schönfelder echoed such threats, saying: "If certain member states veto [the replacement constitution], then very difficult discussions will start, and will lead us in directions that for the European Union will be very difficult."
The German plan looks likely to dash the first flickering hopes among top Brussels officials that Mr Brown may prove to be a more pro-European prime minister than they first feared.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, recently referred to the constitution as a "grandiose" project that "failed to come off," while only this week the Home Secretary, John Reid, said the constitution was a "dead, deceased parrot" that was "no more".
david.rennie@telegraph.co.uk
telegraph.co.uk
By David Rennie in Brussels
07/12/2006
Germany yesterday unveiled a master plan for resurrecting the European Union constitution (even though the French and Dutch democratically voted against it), setting the stage for a pitched political battle with Britain pushed firmly into the front lines.
Germany takes over the rotating presidency of the EU on Jan 1 [[that's something to look forward to]] and the chancellor, Angela Merkel, has pledged to use it to resurrect the constitution, which has been in the deep freeze since last year's No votes in France and Holland.
However, Mrs Merkel has conceded that the treaty will have to lose the name "constitution", to avoid frightening voters.
At a summit next June, Germany plans to hand EU leaders a timetable for reviving the lion's share of the EU constitution, Germany's ambassador to the EU, Wilhelm Schönfelder, disclosed at a briefing yesterday.
Mr Schönfelder said Germany wanted a new draft text for a constitution to be on the table by the end of next year, in order to allow national governments of the EU to spend 2008 ratifying the new treaty.
That tight timetable was necessary to achieve Mrs Merkel's wish to have something close to the constitution in place by the next European parliamentary elections in May 2009, he said.
In its details, and its timing, the German plan presents Gordon Brown, in particular, with a headache. Assuming that Mr Brown becomes prime minister in May or June next year, as is widely predicted, in his first weeks or days in office he will find himself under immediate pressure to revisit a treaty that hands sweeping powers to Europe – creating a single European foreign minister, a single president of the EU, and abolishing national vetoes on vast swathes of policy.
Any attempt to revive the treaty, or even large chunks of it, will offer the Conservatives an instant open goal, as they can demand that Mr Brown pledge to hold a referendum of the British public, before agreeing to any new EU pact.
Germany is already seeking to make Britain look isolated, should Mr Brown resist returning to the treaty and senior German politicians have already threatened the UK with ejection to an outer circle of Europe, if Britain says No to a revised constitution.
Mr Schönfelder echoed such threats, saying: "If certain member states veto [the replacement constitution], then very difficult discussions will start, and will lead us in directions that for the European Union will be very difficult."
The German plan looks likely to dash the first flickering hopes among top Brussels officials that Mr Brown may prove to be a more pro-European prime minister than they first feared.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, recently referred to the constitution as a "grandiose" project that "failed to come off," while only this week the Home Secretary, John Reid, said the constitution was a "dead, deceased parrot" that was "no more".
david.rennie@telegraph.co.uk
telegraph.co.uk