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Merkel's Constitution Plot Revealed
The European Constitution will get a cosmetic makeover that doesn't change its legal substance, according to a letter sent to heads of government by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Euro-MP and Telegraph columnist Daniel Hannan got his mitts on a copy of the letter and discusses its contents in today's newspaper.
The treaty will be re-introduced under a new name, he reports, "to use different terminology without changing the legal substance... (including) the necessary presentational changes"
Wonder why he doesn't publish the entire letter? Still, what he does print gives a tantalising glimpse into the future shape of the revised - or cosmetically enhanced - document.
The symbols of statehood will be struck from the treaty under the Chancellor's proposals. However, this isn't go to mean that the EU's unofficial "national anthem" from Beethoven's 9th will never be used; not does it mean the EU's flag is hauled down.
The references are dropped, but the substance continues. The same trick applies to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It gets removed from the treaty, but replaced by a clause "with a short cross-reference having the same legal value".
Thing is, all this is top secret. The press and the public have not been invited to the negotiating sessions. Besides, there must be two plans - one if Nicolas Sarkozy wins next Sunday, another if Ségolène Royal becomes President. Sarkozy favours a similarly slimmed-down document, passed through parliament with no questions asked: He repeated this last night in a television interview. Royal wants the original treaty with a new Social Chapter added to soothe the worries of France's left (though it is difficult to see how other nations could buy into this).
Britain's Tony Blair, who promised a referendum on the original Constitution, says that the new one must not transfer any more powers to Brussels. This way, he says, he can avoid a referendum. His likely successor, Gordon Brown, won't want a vote either. Brown is already unpopular enough without squandering yet more political capital on a treaty he doesn't want but will be obliged to sign, particularly if he wants good relations with Merkel and Sarkozy (if, and it is a big if, Sarkozy is elected President. A Royal win could stall negotiations further).
Blair and Brown know that a referendum on the EU Constitution could well be lost. Neither wants the fall-out among EU nations this would bring, or the possibility that Britain could be frozen out of Euro-issues.
However, they will argue that a treaty that retains too much of the original document will trigger referenda, not just in Britain but in Ireland, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Some could see No votes: The EU is terrified of referenda after the French and Dutch rejected the treaty in 2005.
Blair will use the threat of Britain's likely rejection of the treaty to push for a more modest document. However, Merkel's proposals look anything but modest.
Will Blair or Brown try to talk down the significance of the treaty and rush it into action bypassing the people? Or will they play hardball and risk Merkel calling their bluff?
Here's Hannan:
"The leaking of this letter is calamitous for the Euro-federalists. Their whole strategy depended on obfuscation, complexity and voter fatigue. The electorates of Europe might sense that their leaders are up to no good but, so far, they have not been able to hang their doubts on anything specific. Now, though, they have it in black and white: they are to get the same constitution as before, but without the promised referendums."
