MPs say new EU treaty content similar to constitution
Sunday, 20 Jan 2008 09:41
The government has ruled out holding a referendum on the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty
MPs have said that the content of the European Union (EU) reform treaty relating to foreign policy is similar to that under the constitutional treaty.
The Lisbon Treaty was signed in December 2007 and was meant to streamline the running of the bloc after the rejection of the constitutional treaty by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.
Prime minister Gordon Brown, who previously said a referendum on the EU constitution would be held, has said there is no need for a public vote on the new EU treaty.
A report by the select committee on foreign affairs has concluded that there is no "material difference" between foreign affairs provisions in the two treaties.
Its members stated that there had only been two titular changes to posts pertaining to foreign policy and the UK had issued two "non-legally binding declarations" on policy relating to common foreign and security policy for the bloc.
However, MPs said the changes in the titles of the chief for foreign affairs and security policy and the European external action service represented "major innovations" in the running of the EU's foreign policy making institutions. While it acknowledged that they did not undermine the UK government's ability to determine its own policy, the parliamentary committed accused the government of "downplaying" the significance of the changes in public.
Furthermore, they recommended that the government "acknowledge the significance" of foreign policy aspects in the Lisbon Treaty.
Previously the government has said it had succeeded in securing opt outs from matters that would undermine the UK's sovereignty such as criminal justice and arguing that a referendum on the new treaty was unnecessary.
Responding to the report, shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the parliamentary committee's report had seriously damaged the government's case for not putting the treaty to a public vote.
He said: "The report effectively accuses ministers of taking part in a stitch-up designed to cut out public debate. It makes it clear that the government has not been straight about the impact the Treaty will have on the EU's foreign policy powers.
"Above all, the report explicitly states that on foreign policy the treaty is in substance exactly the same as the EU constitution."