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Britain threatens veto on eu Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Britain threatens veto on EU
By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor and George Jones
(Filed: 25/11/2003)
Britain is ready to veto proposals for a new constitution for the European Union rather than give up vital national powers over defence, foreign policy and taxation.
The tougher stance was signalled by the Government last night after talks at Lancaster House between Tony Blair and President Jacques Chirac of France failed to resolve deep differences over the proposed European defence capability.
Relations between Britain and the EU were strained further when Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, launched a fresh assault on Brussels, blaming it for producing "wasteful" red tape.
He told business leaders that Britain would resist the European Commission's proposals to harmonise rates of company taxation and VAT.
With the negotiations on the European constitution entering a critical phase - and demands growing in Britain for a referendum - the Government is deliberately raising the stakes ahead of the summit of European leaders next month.
A senior Government source said Britain was not seeking a deal at any cost, and that its "red lines" - issues on which the country would not compromise - were not a bluff.
He said the European Union would continue to operate without a constutition. "This is in the category of highly desirable, but it's not in the category of absolutely necessary. If there were no agreement it would complicate all sorts of things. But plainly life will go on under existing treaties."
The threat to use the veto, a move that has been described as the "nuclear option", represents a significant change of tactics.
Mr Blair and senior ministers have repeatedly sought to brush aside Conservative demands for a referendum on the constitution, insisting it did not amount to a major change in Britain's relations with the EU.
After two years of bargaining on the draft treaty to pave the way for the EU to nearly double in size to 25 members, ministers are about to embark on a final round of negotiations ahead of a summit of all EU leaders in Brussels in the middle of next month.
The Government is clearly concerned that the latest draft treaty being prepared by the Italian government, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, could threaten Britain's "red lines".
These are:
Preventing European defence policy from breaking away from Nato;
Ensuring that the European foreign minister answers to governments rather than to the European Commission;
Preserving Britain's veto over taxation;
Fending off EU powers over areas of criminal law.
Britain is also objecting to any possible loss of control over North Sea oil and seeking to prevent a new Charter of Fundamental Rights giving European courts further powers over British law. Other countries have also raised objections. These include the demand by Poland and Spain to be given greater voting weight, and calls by the smaller states to preserve an EU commissioner for each country.
Germany and Italy have argued that the draft constitution, itself a delicate compromise reached after 17 months of argument at the European Convention led by Valery Giscard D'Estaing, should be left largely intact for fear of unravelling the whole text.
A senior Government source said yesterday that "the problems are not insoluble", and that Britain has no interest in delaying the negotiations.
But if it was not satisfied, the Government seems ready to risk opprobrium across the continent for ruining the latest step in the "European project".
The source acknowledged that failure to reach agreement would be a setback.
But he insisted that the constitution was not vital to the EU in the way that the 2001 Nice Treaty was a prerequisite to allow the European Union to admit 10 new members next year.
The atmosphere of crisis undermines the Government's earlier insistence that the constitution was little more than a "tidying up exercise".
Michael Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary, said the Government's "red lines" were little more than "red herrings".
He added that he opposed the whole concept of a constitution that extended the powers of the EU any further.
"I hope this is not an empty threat or merely a negotiating ploy," he said.
Although Mr Blair and M Chirac put on a public show of unity at their summit yesterday, it was clear that there were significant differences over plans for a European defence force.
M Chirac underlined France's demand for the force to have its own headquarters and planning capability, while Mr Blair emphasised nothing should be done that would threaten Nato's role as the cornerstone of European defence.
After acknowledging the differences, M Chirac said they could be resolved by a restoration of "trust" between Britain and France. But he emphasised that France believed the new European force could carry out operations independently of Nato.
"There are operations which need to be carried out by us and it has to be properly prepared, properly led and properly operated," he said.
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