Downing Street Says » European Constitution

» Monday, March 29, 2004

European Constitution

Asked if the Prime Minister had ‘closed the door’ on the possibility of holding a referendum on the European Constitution, the PMOS said that as we had made clear, we believed that the issue should be treated in exactly the same way as other similar treaties in the past, such as Maastricht. They had been dealt with through the Parliamentary process and that was how the European Constitution should be handled. Asked if he was ruling out a referendum, the PMOS said he thought it odd that the question was being asked in a way that implied something new. We had said consistently that we believed the issue should be dealt with in the same way that other similar matters had been dealt with in the past – through the Parliamentary process. Asked if it ‘would be’ dealt with in the same way, the PMOS underlined that the position had been made absolutely crystal clear. He asked the journalist which part of the word “no” he didn’t understand. Put to him that there had been some suggestion that the Prime Minister had been urged to give way on this issue, the PMOS said that he would refer the journalist to his previous answer and also to comments about this issue made by the Prime Minister and others. The answer was ‘no’.

Asked when the application of the European Constitution would be completed, the PMOS said that first it was important to reach agreement on it. That was no minor matter. There had been a collective wish at the European Council to try to get that done by 17 June. We believed that the sooner people were able to see the issues for themselves in black and white terms, rather than the misty grey being promulgated, the better. Equally, it was important to recognise that while we wanted to make progress as soon as possible, the matter was not entirely within our control inasmuch as we first had to reach an agreement and then we needed to draw up draft EU legislation and express it in legal form. That would take some time.

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