European leaders on Sunday hailed an agreement on the outlines of a new European Union treaty to replace the ill-fated constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters two years ago.
Hopes that the EU may emerge from two years of introspection, which saw Europe’s 27 leaders squabble over how to replace the constitution after the ”no” votes, were raised when a deal was finally reached in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who chaired the marathon round of negotiations in Brussels, said the EU had avoided a disaster. ”We have achieved what we set out to do,” she said of the new treaty that is designed to be more modest than the constitution to avoid the need to hold referendums. ”This shows that Europe came together at the end.”
A relieved Merkel flew home to Berlin on Sunday delighted that she had managed to broker an agreement that will usher in a series of changes in the running of the EU. These include creating an influential new EU foreign-policy chief, an elected president of the European Council and changes to the voting weights in the council of ministers, which will benefit large countries such as Germany at the expense of medium-sized countries such as Poland.
Merkel was forced to embark on late-night brinkmanship after Poland threatened to scupper the deal because of its opposition to the new voting system, which places countries’ voting weights more in line with their population. Poland backed down after Merkel threatened to table a treaty without Warsaw’s agreement.
Merkel had little difficulty in meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s ”red lines” — to ensure the national veto was kept in key areas — although there was a last-minute scare when Britain joined forces with the European Commission to try to preserve some of the free-market language in the constitution.
Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said he hoped the EU could now move forward to concentrate on bread-and-butter issue of reforming Europe’s labour markets.
”We have avoided a crisis,” Barroso told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. ”Uncertainty about our future treaty has cast a shadow of doubt over our ability to act. Now those doubts have been removed.”
Poland, which backed down from blocking the entire deal, put on a brave face after the introduction of new voting arrangements was delayed from 2009 to 2017. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Polish Prime Minister, said: ”We had prepared a plan B and we achieved that.”
Free market
But there were fears that Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, had succeeded in diluting the EU’s historic commitment to an unfettered free market. Alarm bells rang in the European Commission and in the British delegation on Thursday when it emerged that Merkel had agreed to a French request to drop the EU’s 50-year commitment to promoting ”undistorted competition”.
The commission was so concerned that Philip Lowe, director general of its competition division, contacted former competition commissioners to lobby their governments. Merkel refused to change the new treaty, although she did agree to a British request to include the competition declaration in a separate protocol. Britain’s Lord Brittan, the former Tory home secretary, who went on to hold the commission portfolio, believes that France succeeded in weakening the EU’s commitment to competition. He believes Britain is partly to blame.
”So much capital was devoted to supporting ‘red lines’ for the benefit of Rupert Murdoch that a substantial weakening of competition policy was slipped through that is damaging for Britain,” he said.
The row over competition policy prompted tensions between Downing Street and the Treasury. Brown was alarmed when Blair’s spokesperson suggested in Brussels at midday on Friday that Britain was happy with the French position.
Downing Street sources insisted the remarks by its spokesperson were designed to calm things down during a tense period of negotiations and reflect Blair’s belief that the discussions were progressing well.
Brown will on Monday reach out to Blair when he indicates that Blair’s success in maintaining the ”red lines” means he is unlikely to have to hold a referendum on the new treaty.
”Thanks to the negotiating skill of Tony, they [four red lines] have been achieved and I think people, when they look at the small print, will see that we did what we set out to do and that was to make sure that in these areas we were properly protected as a country to make our own decisions when we want to do so,” Brown will tell BBC One’s The Politics Show.
But the Tories stepped up the pressure on the government on Sunday night by claiming that a clause intended to exempt Britain from a common EU foreign policy was not legally binding. William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, claimed that the exemption was only a ”declaration of intent” and would not stand up to a legal challenge.
”When you examine the small print, it is clear that his so-called safeguards have no legal guarantees at all,” he said. ”This is typical of the government’s approach to the negotiation on this vital treaty, which undoubtedly shifts power from Britain to the EU.” Ministers will not be worried because Britain still retains its national veto in the area of foreign policy.
THE TREATY: KEY POINTS
Background
European leaders decided they had to agree the outlines of a new treaty after the EU constitution was rejected by voters in France and The Netherlands in 2005.
The proposed new treaty includes many reforms in the constitution — a new EU foreign-policy chief, an elected president of the European Council, reweighting of countries’ votes to bring them more into line with their populations, and reducing the size of the European Commission.
Constitution originally agreed in 2004, the year of the ”big bang” enlargement when the number of EU members increased from 15 to 25.
Sticking points
Britain determined not to cross ”red lines”. These are: ensuring that the charter of fundamental rights, which extends workers’ rights, would not be legally binding in Britain, and preserving the national veto in criminal justice.
France wanted to dilute free-market language by dropping the EU’s historic commitment to ”undistorted competition”.
Poland determined to keep its generous voting strength — and not to lose out at the expense of Germany.
Winners
Britain preserved its ”red lines”, though this is disputed by the Tories.
France succeeded in losing the competition declaration from the treaty. A separate protocol, containing a new version of the EU’s historic declaration, was agreed to please Britain and the European Commission.
Losers
Poland accepted new voting system. Warsaw claimed victory after the introduction of the system was delayed from 2009 to 2017.
What next?
Portugal takes over the EU’s rotating presidency next Sunday. It will appoint an inter-governmental body to agree the wording of the treaty. EU leaders are due to approve this in December.
— Guardian Unlimited Â