On the Treaty

Written by Andrew Duff MEP and published in East Anglian Daily Times on Fri 21st Sep 2007

At our party conference in Brighton last week, the Liberal Democrats rejected calls for a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty. If there has eventually to be a referendum it should be on the deeper and more dramatic question of staying in or going out of the EU. When the Tories meet in Blackpool next week perhaps they will tell us whether they want such a poll.

In the meantime, the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), where I represent the European Parliament, continues its work on the reform treaty. This consists of making structural alterations to the 2004 package while minimising retreat from it in terms of substance and making subtle improvements where possible. Political discussions focus on the many British demands for opt-ins and opt-outs, as well as on the chaotic position of Poland. With all these problems, the IGC will not produce miracles. Its room for manoeuvre, both legally and politically, is limited. Its outcome next month will be highly complicated.

The Reform Treaty will have no direct effect on the British constitution, but it will institute some important changes to how Europe is governed. The argument commonly advanced, that a referendum is not now needed because the changes proposed are no longer important, is therefore a bad one. Instead, a robust case needs to be made against the instrument of the referendum on this issue - namely, that it would be simplistic, deceptive and unparliamentary.

Years of dissembling and distortion about Britain's place in Europe and about the scope of European integration bodes ill for a referendum campaign. There is (as yet) no European media or political party to put the constitutional issue in its proper post-national context. A rushed and inevitably defensive campaign by the Labour government trumpeting its fairly spurious "red lines" would enrage Europhobes while disappointing Europhiles.

Britain badly needs a fresh, bipartisan consensus about its role in the EU. But a referendum only divides. By accentuating the split within public opinion and political parties, a referendum would never settle the future direction of European policy. Given the emotions that cloud rational debate on this issue, the losing side would be bound to be provoked and unforgiving.

One of the features of the Reform Treaty is a proposal to get national parliaments more engaged in EU politics. There can be no better time to start this engagement than during the ratification process of the treaty itself. Informed parliamentary debate about the compromises, checks and balances involved in what will be a comprehensive and sophisticated package deal is badly required at Westminster. MPs should not shuffle off their constitutional duty on to the shoulders of the hapless citizen.

And if the future of Europe is still an issue of such overriding importance to the British people it should be the one to determine the outcome of the next general election.

Andrew Duff is the Liberal Democrat MEP for the East of England. www.andrewduffmep.org