British EU fears unfounded - Duff

4.45.36pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 19th Jun 2007

Responding to the British Prime Minister's four 'red lines' for the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), Andrew Duff MEP, Leader of the Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Party, has said:

"In one sense, Tony Blair is quite right: it would be unacceptable (1) if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights changed UK domestic law; (2) if the EU foreign minister were to make the British foreign secretary redundant; (3) if the UK lost control of its police and judicial system; or (4) if the EU were to impose tax or social security decisions on the UK by qualified majority vote.

"So the Prime Minister can be reassured that none of his four fears are real ones.

"Indeed, Mr Blair will remember how the 2004 treaty, which he signed and welcomed as a good deal for Britain, specifically precluded such intrusions upon UK legal and political space.

"Nor will its successor treaty, improved by renegotiation, have these malevolent intentions."

ENDS