EU Bigs Fear Constituents

In what seems to be a desperate attempt to get the fix in, we learn that Sarkozy's ready to endorse Blair's demands in Europe.

Tony Blair is poised to forge a united front with Nicolas Sarkozy at next week's European summit in Brussels, raising hopes that Europe's 27 leaders will finally reach a deal on replacing the EU constitution.

The only thing being replaced is constitution. They're going to call it a treaty so the great unwashed can be denied the opportunity to vote in a referendum.

In a dramatic illustration of how Anglo-French relations have been transformed by the departure of Jacques Chirac last month, President Sarkozy is expected to endorse key British demands at the summit.

Britain is confident that Sarkozy, who is said to have lobbied for Blair to become the new permanent president of the European Council, will agree that Britain should be exempted from two measures that have been seized on by Eurosceptics.

These are: making the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which increases the rights of workers, legally binding; and depriving EU member states of their national veto on criminal justice matters. Blair wants an 'opt out' from the former and an 'opt in' on the latter, giving Britain the right to decide which criminal justice matters it would agree to negotiate.

What's good for Britain isn't for Poles, Czechs, Romanians or Swedes? How . . . democratic Progressive.

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The summit, which will take place on Thursday and Friday, will be one of the most important EU meetings in years. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor who holds the EU's rotating presidency, is determined to reach agreement on a replacement for the EU constitution which was rejected two years ago in referendums in France and the Netherlands.

Merkel, who was due to meet the Polish president Lech Kaczynski near Berlin last night, pleaded with EU leaders to give ground. 'The readiness of all to compromise will be necessary for it to be adopted,' Merkel said in her weekly podcast. 'If we get to work in this spirit next week, then I hope we will reach an agreement.'

Germany believes that failure to reach an agreement would plunge the EU into another round of infighting. Merkel wants to agree the key outlines of a new treaty - replacing the EU constitution - that would then be signed at the EU's end-of-year summit in December after a short inter-governmental conference in the autumn.

But Merkel faces a tough week. Britain is adamant that its 'red lines' - essentially the charter and the criminal justice voting changes - cannot be crossed. Poland is determined to dilute Germany's voting weight in the council of ministers.

The summit presents a particular challenge for Gordon Brown who will take over days after Blair returns from Brussels. Brown is encouraged by Merkel's decision that the constitution should be abandoned in favour of an 'amending treaty' that would simply change existing treaties. This would allow him to avoid holding a referendum on the measure that would probably be defeated.

In an earlier post, President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic was quoted in regard to the European Union. It's worth repeating.

I am frustrated that the people in Europe do not see this fundamental metamorphosis sufficiently clearly and especially do not think about its inevitable consequences. I am angry with politicians and their fellow travelers that they do maximum to hide it and to make it fuzzy.

I consider it wrong. I am not satisfied with making only cosmetic changes. I am, therefore, in favour of redefining the whole concept of the European Union.

Mr. President, methinks your voice is being heard.