UK under pressure over constitution referendum

UK under pressure over constitution referendum
By Honor Mahony

London is set to come under the spotlight today (6 June) as politicians around Europe watch to see whether it will freeze its plans to hold a referendum on the constitution.

Foreign secretary Jack Straw is to address parliament at 14.15 GMT and is expected to postpone Britain's planned referendum, effectively putting a halt to the bloc's constitution ratification process.

If London does take this route, it will widen the rift which has opened between itself and Germany and France since the double rejection of the constitution last week.

Both French president Jacques Chirac and the German chancellor Gerhard Schroder over the weekend urged the ratification process to continue, despite the strong French and Dutch votes against the document.

But Britain has reacted coolly to this call.

"We have set out our position and we believe that it is necessary to have a period of reflection leading up to the discussions at the council of ministers on June 16th", a No. 10 spokeswoman said.

An EU response on what to do next is not expected until EU leaders meet at the end of next week.

96.6% of Germans would vote against the treaty However, polls in Denmark and the Czech Republic - both planning to have referendums - show that support for the constitution has dropped since the double No last week, making it unlikely that these two countries could win a referendum.

On top of this, in Luxembourg, one of the bloc's most pro-European states, the number of those planning to say No to the treaty in the Duchy's referendum on 10 July has also risen, prompting prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker to say he will resign if the constitution is rejected.

The domino effect effect also appears to be working retroactively. Germany's mass-selling Bild newspaper on Saturday wrote that a poll of 390,694 readers showed that 96.6 percent would vote against the constitution - although German parliament approved it overwhelmingly last month.

Meanwhile, the Dutch are drawing the consequences of their rejection of the treaty last Wednesday (1 June). The Dutch government on Friday said that ratification in other countries can continue but that the Netherlands will not at a later state co-operate in approval of the constitution.

"The Constitutional treaty is over and finished", said prime minister Jan-Peter Balkenende, during a a parliamentary debate.

While leaders will discuss the issue on 16-17 June, an extraordinary summit just on the constitution has not been ruled out, according to German media.

Joint Franco-German proposal on EU budget Much will depend on whether there is any progress on the EU budget talks, with many believing that failure to agree on this issue next week will heighten the perception that the Union is in deep crisis.

Following their meeting over the weekend, President Chirac and Chancellor Schroder agreed to work on a joint proposal on the so-called financial perspective for 2007-2013.

But they also upped the pressure on Mr Blair to make concessions on the British rebate which currently amounts to some E:4.6bn a year, and is set to rise to over E:7bn a year in 2007.

"Without calling any country by name, the chancellor made it clear that everyone must be prepared to shift their position in order to get a deal", said Mr Schroder's spokesperson over the weekend.