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Red Lines For Brown
Write out one thousand times: " I will not surrender control over human and social rights, foreign policy and tax and benefits." Britain's new PM Gordon Brown has been in office only a couple of weeks and is making clear that his EU policy will follow the blueprint laid out by Tony Blair in his final meeting to agree on the shape of the new European Constitution.
Brown met Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates in London today. Portugal holds the rotating EU presidency, and Socrates wants to sign, seal and deliver the Constitution as "The Lisbon Treaty" by October.
"Don't forget our Red Lines, though", said Brown, who is desperately playing down opposition and media calls for a referendum on the treaty. Interestingly, Socrates too is facing calls for a referendum on the treaty from his opposition, but says that there is no question of a vote until the final text is agreed.
