The proposed EU constitution and 2007 'Reform Treaty'

A previous briefing (click here) by Linda and Richard Corbett MEP provided information on the original draft European Constitution drawn up by the European Convention between March 2002 and June 2003. Linda was a member of the Convention and Richard Corbett is the Labour spokesperson in the European Parliament on constitutional affairs.

Following the No votes in France and the Netherlands, EU governments agreed a period of reflection to extend the ratification process for the draft constitution.

In June 2007, the 27 heads of government met to agree the way forward. They produced a new text, dubbed the 'reform' or 'amending' treaty. This was finalised in Lisbon on October 18th and is now subject to ratification in each EU country.

To read for yourself how the texts of the EU Treaties will be amended by the Treaty agreed in Lisbon, click here.

1. How does the Reform Treaty differ from the Constitutional Treaty?

Most notably:

• The concept of a "constitution" has been explicitly abandoned.
• The designation "Foreign Minister" has been dropped.
• The symbols (EU flag and anthem) have been dropped.
• The existing treaties will not be replaced by a single codifying document - the Reform Treaty will be a conventional amending treaty similar in form to the treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice (albeit less far-reaching).
• The plan to change the terminology for EU legal instruments, with EU regulations becoming "EU laws" and EU directives becoming "EU framework laws", has been scrapped.
• The Charter of Fundamental Rights will not be a full part of the treaty. It will be binding on the EU institutions and on European law with a protocol added to clarify that it does not effect or override UK domestic law.
• The changes to the voting weights in the Council of Ministers will not start to come into effect until 2014
• An opt-out is given to Britain on criminal law and co-operation on legal matters.
• Foreign policy co-operation has special provisions that make it explicitly subordinate to national governments finding consensus.

Some countries claim that 90% of the constitutional treaty remains intact. However, the percentage is certainly lower for Britain, with its opt-outs, and anyway the parts abandoned contain precisely those aspects which gave rise to the most concerns. As Richard Corbett MEP has said, mice and humans share 90% of their DNA, it's just that the other 10% is crucial.

2. What changes does it make to the current EU system?

The changes retained amount to a set of pragmatic reforms to the current EU structure. The following are the most notable:

• A new voting system in the Council, which will give each country a vote proportionate to its population (thereby increasing Britain's vote).
• Extra powers of scrutiny conferred on national parliaments and the European Parliament.
• The election of the President of the Commission by the European Parliament.
• Replacing the 6-month rotating “Buggin’s turn” presidency of the European Council with a chosen 30-month one.
• Merging the two jobs of "Commissioner responsible for external relations" and "High Representative responsible for external relations" into a single post. The Treaty has special provisions to guarantee EU foreign policy is subordinate to the will of national governments.
• A new budgetary procedure requiring the approval of all EU expenditure by both the Council of Ministers and the Parliament.
• Capping the size of the European Parliament at 750 members.
• A reduction in the size of the Commission.
• The Commission's "embassies" around the world are now to come under the joint responsibility of the Council and the Commission, allowing member states to have greater control over them and to place their own staff in them.
• Adding the fight against climate change to the Union's objectives on environmental policy.
• A new provision ring-fencing social security systems from unwanted effects of European law.

3. Where does it extend QMV?

There are 49 new articles that will use Qualified Majority Voting in the Council of Ministers. The then Prime Minister Tony Blair stated in the House of Commons debate on the Council summit on 25th June that:

"Thirteen of them do not apply to the UK because they are about the eurozone or judicial and home affairs, which we have opted out of. Six involved issues such as allowing a group of citizens to propose initiatives; the negotiation of a withdrawal agreement; two relate to ending special state aid provisions for Germany post-unification. Nine are minor and technical, including the Council review on the composition of the Committee of the Regions, and the Comitology committee. Nine of them relate to new legal bases, but powers already exist".

There are nine articles of genuine substance on matters such as the implementation of own resources decisions, which it is in Britain's interests to have QMV on, because it allows us to ensure that countries cannot block that; on the authorisation, co-ordination and supervision of intellectual property rights protection, which, it is absolutely in Britain's interests to have; and on matters such as urgent aid to third countries and humanitarian aid operations."

Hardly the apocalyptic vision conjured by the eurosceptics!

4. Does it warrant a referendum?

No, Britain has never had a referendum to ratify an international treaty, and it is ludicrous to suggest that one should be held on a treaty which does modest things such as changing the length of the Presidency of the European Council from 6 months to 30 months. No EU member state, apart from Ireland which is constitutionally required to hold referenda on any change whatsoever to the EU treaties, is planning to hold a referendum on the new treaty.

Britain's tradition is as a parliamentary democracy - like previous treaties, the proposed Reform Treaty should be scrutinised, debated and voted on in the Houses of Parliament.

5. What does the rest of Europe think?

All 27 governments agreed to the mandate for the IGC to draw up the treaty changes as agreed and all have agreed to try to ratify before the 2009 European elections.

Most welcome the fact that many of the practical institutional reforms contained in the Constitutional Treaty have been salvaged, even if they regret the parts that have been sacrificed and have misgivings about Britain's opt-outs and derogations.

Federalists, however, are disappointed! The idea of a "constitution" has been abandoned. Ditto for the EU's Foreign Minister. The longer term of office means that the President of the intergovernmental European Council, chosen by the Prime Ministers of the member states, will become more prominent at the expense of the President of the Commission elected by the European Parliament.  There is to be no majority voting on tax, on foreign policy or on security. Foreign policy is to remain firmly intergovernmental. The Commission's "embassies" around the world are now to come under the joint responsibility of the Council and the Commission, allowing member states to have greater control over them and to place their own staff in them. The Charter of Rights has been partially neutered. There are more opt-outs for member states, not least the UK.

None the less, all accept it as a compromise likely to improve the functioning of the Union.