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		Blair urged to dump EU Charter Thursday 23rd June 2005 Tony Blair was today challenged in the European Parliament by East Midlands Conservative MEP Roger Helmer to declare the proposed EU Constitution dead. The Prime Minister was in Brussels to set out his plans for the UK's forthcoming six-month rotating Presidency of the EU, and he reiterated his determination to press for wide-ranging reform of the organisation. In a packed session of the parliament, Helmer challenged the Prime Minister to stick to his guns on the UK rebate, and to accept that the proposed EU Constitution, voted down by France and Holland, is now dead. While previously Blair had agreed to "a period of reflection" on the Constitution, Helmer insisted: "There is nothing to reflect about -- the decision of French and Dutch voters is extremely clear. Under its own terms, the Constitution cannot take effect unless all 25 EU member-states ratify it." Helmer however congratulated the Prime Minister on his robust defence of the British budget rebate, and on what he called "Blair's conversion to a long-standing Conservative policy -- of radical reform of the EU". He also asked Mr Blair to agree that meaningful reform would require renegotiation of the EU treaties, including the founding Treaty of Rome. Helmer recently left the EPP group in the European parliament to become an unattached member, a move he believes enabled him to get speaking time in this heavily-oversubscribed debate. "In the EPP, I'd have had no chance at all of getting speaking time in a debate like this", he said. He was the first Conservative MEP to speak in this crucial debate. Helmer has also written to the current President of the European Council, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, and to the President of the EU Commission, José Manuel Barroso, asking for a commitment that they will not seek to implement parts of the EU Constitution piece-meal, without ratification by member-states. A whole series of initiatives, including the European Space Agency and the European Defence Procurement Agency, which rely on the Constitution as their legal basis, have already been put in hand. They now lack any democratic or legal legitimacy, and Helmer has demanded they be wound up. See also •  Roger's speech to the parliament on June 23rd •  Roger's letter to Jean-Claude Juncker and José Manuel Barroso