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		The Constitution that won't go away Lincolnshire Echo - January 8 2004 The draft EU Constitution suffered a set-back in December, when the EU heads-of-government failed to agree it. But it hasn't gone away. The Irish are taking up the current Presidency (Jan/June 2004) of the EU, and one of their priorities is to bring the Constitution back on the agenda. Poland and Spain -- the two countries that scuppered the Constitution in December -- can expect some fierce arm-twisting. Germany has already been dropping heavy hints that it may not be prepared to keep bank-rolling the EU unless the Constitution issue is resolved. There are those who say that the Constitution is "just a tidying up of the treaties". It will make the workings of the EU clearer for voters, and bring Europe closer to the people. It is necessary (they say) to make sure that an enlarged EU doesn't snarl up in permanent gridlock. Others say that the Constitution is a huge step in integration, that it passes vast new powers to Brussels, that it changes the EU from a voluntary, treaty-based association of independent states into a single political union -- a union with a flag, a passport, an anthem, a President, a Foreign Minister, a parliament, a currency, a Central Bank, a Supreme Court, a European Army -- in other words, a super-state on anyone's definition. So I thought you might like to see some comments from someone who actually sat on the so-called "Convention" that drafted the Constitution. "It is clear that the real reason for the Constitution -- and its main impact -- is the political deepening of the Union.....The Convention brought together a self-selected group of the European political élite.....National parliamentarians were the visitors to Brussels, invited to meetings and used to endorse decisions reached by European interest groups". "Unfortunately the Convention focused only on what more could be done at European Union level, rather than looking again from first principals to see what is best achieved at national level". "For the voter, the critical question is 'can I get rid of them if I don't like what they're doing?'. This has always been a problem in the European institutions, and the Constitution does not resolve it". "We could end up with tax harmonisation through the back door". And in a telling comment on the Chairman of the Convention, French ex-President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, "I had great sympathy with the suggestion of my lap-top spell-check; whenever I typed 'Giscard' it replaced it with 'discard'!" So who made these comments? Obviously a hard-line euro-sceptic? Perhaps a Conservative? No. Actually, it was Labour MP Gisela Stuart, who was also the only woman on the "Praesidium" (Steering Committee) of the Convention. Born in Germany and now MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, Ms. Stuart has always regarded herself as a good European. She set off to Brussels for the Convention as a positive euro-luvvie, full of optimism and high expectations. But she's come back to earth with a bump. She can see quite clearly that the Constitution is all about centralising power in Brussels, and creating what will in effect be a unitary state, a People's Republic of Europe, in which Britain will be a mere offshore province. And like other People's Republics before it, the new Europe is based on the obsessive dreams of its political élites, and takes no account of the identity and aspirations of ordinary people. I think Europe's political élites are wrong. I believe it is my job, in my role as an MEP, to stay true to the identity and aspirations of East Midlands voters. Ms. Stuart comes as close as she dares (as a Labour MP) to calling for a referendum on the Constitution. It would be an outrage for this Labour government to adopt this EU Constitution, which will radically alter the way we are governed, without the full-hearted consent of the British people. That is why we must have a referendum. That is why Conservatives are campaigning for a referendum. Vote on our website at www.putittothepeople.com. Quotes taken from "The Making of Europe's Constitution", Gisela Stuart MP, Fabian Society, £6.95