Downing Street Says » EU Treaty

Asked why the Prime Minister was so determined to avoid a referendum on the constitution, the PMOS said that he recognised that the question was a Daily Telegraph way of putting things, and the journalist may not be surprised if the PMOS answered in a different way! The view of the Prime Minister, the Dutch Prime Minister, and we believed of other leaders as well, although they would speak for themselves, was that Europe needed to move forward from the internal debate about its organisation. This was essentially what this had been about, and it needed to take action on the issues such as energy, trade liberalisation which mattered to ordinary citizens. The Prime Minister believed the Dutch and French referendum results, clearly underlined that there was not going to be a quick consensus on an EU constitution that had all the characteristics of a constitution. What the Prime Minister believed, however, that it was possible to get agreement on the practical issues that Europe needed to address if it was to work successfully as a Europe of 27, rather than a Europe of 15. Those practical issues would contribute to an amending treaty, such as those we had seen in the past which did not require referenda.

The PMOS said that that was why the Prime Minister believed that it was possible to make progress in June and to achieve the results that would allow Europe to move forward, but only if we focused relentlessly on the practical, rather than the grander scheme that was originally envisaged. That was the approach the Prime Minister would be taking into the meeting with Chancellor Merkel. As EU President and as German Chancellor, Chancellor Merkel would obviously have her own position, but we believed that there was a consensus certainly amongst some member states that what we needed to focus on was on the practical, rather than the grander elements of the constitution as it was.

Asked if we believed that France wouldn’t push the issue at later summits, the PMOS replied that given the fact that there was an election going on in France, and we would know the result in less than two weeks, a period of silence from him would be the wisest thing.

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Vote online about the future of Europe at http://www.FreeEurope.info – One liner: "Human development in its richest diversity" (J S Mill)
Comment by Carl-Johan Westholm — 25 Apr 2007 on 8:52 am | Link
Vote online about the future of Europe at http://www.FreeEurope.info – One liner: "Human development in its richest diversity" (J S Mill)
Comment by Carl-Johan Westholm — 25 Apr 2007 on 8:53 am | Link
al salam alaikum
president musharaf sahab

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Comment by imran ali — 28 Apr 2007 on 7:18 pm | Link

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» Tuesday, April 24, 2007

EU Treaty

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