WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 06 2000
Secret plan for EU ‘superstate’
BY MARTIN FLETCHER AND PHILIP WEBSTER
Berlin and Rome expose Blair to new line of attack
GERMANY and Italy delivered a serious blow to Tony Blair on the eve of the
Nice summit yesterday by calling for yet another round of negotiations to
achieve an even closer European Union. In a confidential joint paper sent to
France, which holds the EU’s rotating Presidency, Berlin and Rome said the
summit should agree to hold an inter-governmental conference (IGC) in 2004
“with a view to the further development of European integration”. The Times
has obtained the paper, which shows that even before the Nice treaty is
signed leading EU members are looking for ways to increase integration in the
next one. It immediately refuelled Eurosceptic claims that the EU is on the
road to becoming a “superstate”. Francis Maude, the Shadow Foreign
Secretary, called the document a “bombshell that shows the true agenda at the
heart of Europe”. He claimed that the Government was “privately happy with
this agenda, but publicly denies it is happening”. The Government, however,
insisted that the paper was merely a document for discussion — “any member
State can produce a document for consideration in an IGC and that’s what the
Germans and Italians have done”. The paper plays into the hands of
Eurosceptics by fuelling the impression that integration is a relentless
one-way process. However, many of Germany’s preliminary ideas, including
stopping the flow of powers from national governments to Brussels, are
strongly welcomed by London, which in recent days has softened its position
over a future IGC. The new paper surfaced on the day that Peter Mandelson,
the Cabinet’s leading pro-European, said that the EU’s founding fathers’
dream of an ever closer union was now dead. He insisted that the Nice treaty
would confirm that Europe was now a “pragmatic venture”. Mr Blair has
previously insisted that such a conference should not happen until after
enlargement of the EU has begun. Yesterday his official spokesman said that,
provided it was not a hurdle to enlargement, the proposal could be looked at.
The paper gives the Conservatives further ammunition by saying the IGC should
consider whether to make the EU’s controversial new Charter of Fundamental
Rights legally binding — an idea the Government opposes. It says the IGC
should consider “a simplification of the treaties with a view to achieving
improved legibility and clarity”. British Eurosceptics have long regarded
“treaty simplification” — which would create a separate document for the
EU’s core principles — as a back-door route to a European constitution. The
paper also says that the proposed IGC should define the relative powers of
Brussels and the national Governments, an idea Mr Blair advocated in October
and something Germany’s 16 regional governments are insisting on as a way of
limiting Brussels’ powers. Britain accepts that the demand for another IGC in
2004 has become crucial for Germany as the Nice summit approaches, but its
proposed timing will be another source of controversy. Mr Blair said in
October that it should not begin before the first new members from central
Europe have joined the EU. The German-Italian paper says that the candidate
countries should be involved in extensive pre-IGC discussions and that “the
conclusion of the 2004 conference is not a pre-condition for the accession of
new members”. Those discussions should also include national Parliaments,
MEPs, academics, business and civil society. Belgium, which inherits the EU
Presidency next July, wants to set the process in train with a declaration
next December to be followed by a convention comprising national, European
and candidate country politicians. The IGC would then formalise the results.
The Government is loath to trigger “three years of endless speculation” by
agreeing at all to a new IGC at this point, but recognises that the German
Chancellor needs to set a date for domestic political reasons. Europe’s heads
of government will now have to haggle over the wording of the summit’s final
communiqué on the post-Nice agenda, on top of all the other intensely
difficult issues they must resolve. Mr Blair will be determined to change the
key paragraph of the German-Italian proposal, which says the 2004 IGC should
explore “the further development of the process of European integration”.
Government officials acknowledged that it was not a felicitous phrase, but
said that the problem was primarily semantic as those words had different
connotations in Germany. On the Charter of Rights, which is to be
“proclaimed” in Nice but not incorporated into EU law, one British source
said: “We will have to make it clear there’s no question of it ever in the
history of mankind becoming a legal binding text.” Officals said the
Government could accept the simplification of the treaties to make them more
accessible, but not if the idea was to produce a constitution. But Mr Maude
said that the paper exposed the Government’s “breathtaking willingness to
mislead the British people”. “On the day Peter Mandelson claims European
integration is over, plans are exposed to take the EU further down the
integrationist road." “At least other politicians throughout the EU have the
courage to argue their convictions. Labour’s are hiding their real agenda.
Nice is a staging post on the road to an EU superstate. Why can’t they be
honest? “Other countries are happy to talk about deeper integration. Peter
Mandelson denies it will happen. Other countries are happy to talk about a
European army. Robin Cook denies there is one. Other countries are happy to
talk about the euro leading to political integration. Gordon Brown denies it
will happen. On Europe this Government is in denial.”
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,47203,00.html
- Re: [CTRL] Secret plan for EU superstate William Shannon
- Re: [CTRL] Secret plan for EU superstate Ethan T. Matthews
