Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday that Britain no longer needs to hold a referendum on a new European Union treaty, a move welcomed by EU leaders battling to replace the bloc's near-dead constitution.
Blair said the decision was supported by his likely successor, Chancellor Gordon Brown, who will have the job of helping negotiate a replacement treaty after the constitution was torpedoed by French and Dutch referendums in 2005.
The confirmation, in an interview with a number of European newspapers, came as the 27-member bloc grapples to find a compromise in time for an EU summit in Brussels in June. Blair said bluntly that the EU treaty he favours to replace the constitutional one would not require a British referendum.
"If it's not a constitutional treaty, so that it alters the basic relationship between Europe and the member states, then there isn't the same case for a referendum," he told papers including Britain's Financial Times. He added that the British government is "going to get attacked whatever we do, but Europe needs to do it to move forward."
Germany, which currently holds the EU's presidency, hailed the comments, and said Blair is to discuss the constitution with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin next Tuesday.
Comments
Comments are closed.