EU website unlikely to silence calls for referendum
The UK public is about to get an online forum for discussing the EU constitution with high-level officials, the Europe Minister Denis MacShane announced today.
But it’s unlikely to be enough for those who want to see a national referendum on the controversial issue.
Users will be able to log on and discuss issues such as a joint foreign and security policy, criminal justice, and tax harmonisations with MPs, government ministers and officials leading the negotiations on the future of Europe.
The move comes just weeks ahead of the start of negotiations in Brussels to agree on the treaty that will lead to the creation of a constitution.
“We’ve taken huge strides in the UK in the last year to get people involved in the debate on Europe. This latest innovation is the most exciting,” Dr. MacShane claimed.
He explained that europhile MP Graham Allen – a strong proponent of a written constitution in the UK – and the Hansard Society had been instrumental in setting up the independently-monitored website which will “allow every one of us as citizens to put our point of view direct to ministers and the officials who will be carrying out the negotiation”.
However, although the Government has claimed that the proposed document is just a ‘tidying up exercise’, critics have suggested that it represents major constitutional change and should therefore be put to a public vote.
The convention for the future of Europe, headed by former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, has been discussing the terms of the constitution for the last 18 months, and there have been concerns that the soon-to-be-enlarged EU could become a federalist superstate.
The Conservatives have backed calls for a referendum, claiming that the constitution could strip national states of key powers on issues such as immigration and foreign policy, as well as setting up a powerful, elected EU presidency.
