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The arrogant, undemocratic and unelected EU bureaucrats have already had their vile consitution rejected by the good voters of France and the Netherlands. They are choosing to ignore that and foist the consitution on us under the guise of a 'treaty' that bypasses the inconvenience of the will of the people. So what part of "non" do they not understand?
I'm not accustomed to sticking up for the actions of Mr Blair's government, but I'm pleased that they seem to be resisting this intolerable assualt on democracy by the unelected commissioners.
Go take a tosso, Barosso!
Insults fly as Britain feels the heat
Philip Webster, Political Editor, David Charter in Brussels and Fran Yeoman
Britain and Poland were accused of being the obstacles to a deal on Europe’s future last night as the preparations for tomorrow’s crucial summit became increasingly rocky.
The head of the European Commission told Britain directly that it was not being “intelligent” in threatening to block parts of the revived EU constitution.
But Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, accused most of the EU of being “in denial” about the failure of the previous constitution.
The angry exchanges came as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown presented a united front to the rest of Europe. In a joint telephone call with President Sarkozy of France, they made plain that there would be no retreat from the “red lines” set out by Mr Blair on Monday.
According to Downing Street, the three agreed that Britain and France should work together to help to create an amending treaty and “that a return to a constitutional treaty as rejected by France and Holland would not be possible”.
They talked as José Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, showed his frustration at continued objections to the new EU treaty from Britain and Poland by giving warning that it would not be in their long-term interests to rock the boat, and he told them to stop talking of “red lines and vetoes”.
Mrs Beckett, appearing before the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, surprised MPs by saying that there had been a lack of proper negotiation in the run-up to the summit.
Countries that ratified the previous constitution, rejected by France and the Netherlands, were reluctant to accept that the original treaty could not return, she added.
“There have not been feverish negotiations and discussions in Europe, I wish there had,” Mrs Beckett said yesterday. “Most of our colleagues, bluntly, have been in denial, saying things like, ‘People signed up to this in 2004 so therefore we must all agree with it now’. Maybe it’s a great pity that there have been no negotiations.”
She said that the attitude of those countries that had previously ratified the constitution was, understandably, whether they could save as much of it as possible. “For those countries, this is genuinely very difficult,” she added.
Mrs Beckett said that Mr Blair’s red lines were “the closest we have come to spelling out” our position. She added: “We have been keeping our negotiating powder dry.”
Mr Barroso, a former Portuguese Prime Minister backed by Britain to run the European Commission, launched an ill-tempered attack on countries that he thought were hampering this week’s talks on a treaty to replace the failed constitution.
Britain has set out more “red-line” objections than any other country and the Poles are digging in hard for a review of voting weights because they believe that the proposed new system will give Germany too much power.
“It is not in the interest of any member state to be in a position that is seen as hard- liner,” Mr Barroso said before the summit, which starts in Brussels tomorrow. “Please avoid appearing as blocking. This is not intelligent, this is not in your interest,” he said.
“It may be useful for some national consumption for some time, but it will not be useful in the medium and the long term. Defend your positions, but don’t come with these red lines and vetoes.” Mr Barroso added: “Failure would set back our work across the board.”
Britain secured some presentational changes in the first draft of the EU treaty proposal last night.
The title of EU “foreign minister” will be dropped and replaced with a name that does not conflict with the titles of national representatives, although the job will remain, according to the proposals to be put forward by the German EU presidency and seen by The Times.
Importantly for Mr Blair, the draft document discussed by diplomats in Brussels last night proposed downgrading the EU constitution aim of stating the primacy of Union law by instead making it a “declaration”.
I'm not accustomed to sticking up for the actions of Mr Blair's government, but I'm pleased that they seem to be resisting this intolerable assualt on democracy by the unelected commissioners.
Go take a tosso, Barosso!
Insults fly as Britain feels the heat
Philip Webster, Political Editor, David Charter in Brussels and Fran Yeoman
Britain and Poland were accused of being the obstacles to a deal on Europe’s future last night as the preparations for tomorrow’s crucial summit became increasingly rocky.
The head of the European Commission told Britain directly that it was not being “intelligent” in threatening to block parts of the revived EU constitution.
But Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, accused most of the EU of being “in denial” about the failure of the previous constitution.
The angry exchanges came as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown presented a united front to the rest of Europe. In a joint telephone call with President Sarkozy of France, they made plain that there would be no retreat from the “red lines” set out by Mr Blair on Monday.
According to Downing Street, the three agreed that Britain and France should work together to help to create an amending treaty and “that a return to a constitutional treaty as rejected by France and Holland would not be possible”.
They talked as José Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, showed his frustration at continued objections to the new EU treaty from Britain and Poland by giving warning that it would not be in their long-term interests to rock the boat, and he told them to stop talking of “red lines and vetoes”.
Mrs Beckett, appearing before the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, surprised MPs by saying that there had been a lack of proper negotiation in the run-up to the summit.
Countries that ratified the previous constitution, rejected by France and the Netherlands, were reluctant to accept that the original treaty could not return, she added.
“There have not been feverish negotiations and discussions in Europe, I wish there had,” Mrs Beckett said yesterday. “Most of our colleagues, bluntly, have been in denial, saying things like, ‘People signed up to this in 2004 so therefore we must all agree with it now’. Maybe it’s a great pity that there have been no negotiations.”
She said that the attitude of those countries that had previously ratified the constitution was, understandably, whether they could save as much of it as possible. “For those countries, this is genuinely very difficult,” she added.
Mrs Beckett said that Mr Blair’s red lines were “the closest we have come to spelling out” our position. She added: “We have been keeping our negotiating powder dry.”
Mr Barroso, a former Portuguese Prime Minister backed by Britain to run the European Commission, launched an ill-tempered attack on countries that he thought were hampering this week’s talks on a treaty to replace the failed constitution.
Britain has set out more “red-line” objections than any other country and the Poles are digging in hard for a review of voting weights because they believe that the proposed new system will give Germany too much power.
“It is not in the interest of any member state to be in a position that is seen as hard- liner,” Mr Barroso said before the summit, which starts in Brussels tomorrow. “Please avoid appearing as blocking. This is not intelligent, this is not in your interest,” he said.
“It may be useful for some national consumption for some time, but it will not be useful in the medium and the long term. Defend your positions, but don’t come with these red lines and vetoes.” Mr Barroso added: “Failure would set back our work across the board.”
Britain secured some presentational changes in the first draft of the EU treaty proposal last night.
The title of EU “foreign minister” will be dropped and replaced with a name that does not conflict with the titles of national representatives, although the job will remain, according to the proposals to be put forward by the German EU presidency and seen by The Times.
Importantly for Mr Blair, the draft document discussed by diplomats in Brussels last night proposed downgrading the EU constitution aim of stating the primacy of Union law by instead making it a “declaration”.
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