LONDON, June 6: Britain suspended legislation on Monday to set up a referendum on the new European Union constitution, putting it at odds with Germany and France who have called for the ratification process to continue.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told parliament that rejection of the constitution by voters in France and the Netherlands had thrown the future of the charter into doubt and said EU leaders must come together to plot a way forward.
“We reserve completely the right to bring back the bill providing for a UK referendum should circumstances change. But we see no point in proceeding at this moment,” he said.
The move is a step short of publicly declaring the constitution dead, an act for which no EU government wants to take the lead for fear of being blamed for its demise.
“It is not for the UK alone to decide the future of the treaty,” Straw said. “It is now for European leaders to reach conclusions on how to deal with the situation.”
To come into effect, the charter must be approved by all EU member states, but London does not want to unilaterally declare it dead before it takes the presidency of the bloc in July.
It insists any decisions should wait for an EU summit scheduled for June 16 but officials say Blair sees no prospect now of winning support from Britons for the charter and will suggest to his counterparts that it is fruitless to continue as though nothing had happened.
Political analysts say the Netherlands and France have sounded the death knell for a charter that advocates argue is vital to streamline the 25-nation bloc’s cumbersome bureaucracy but which opponents say would hand too much power to Brussels.
When Blair announced his referendum plan late last year, the intention was to hold it in the first few months of 2006.
Polls have consistently suggested eurosceptic Britons would reject the constitution, a result which could have ended Blair’s political career.
French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have called for ratification to proceed anyway.
“It’s a question of democracy,” French European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna told reporters at an EU council meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
“It’s not for one member of the EU to decide for the others, or to block the process of ratification of a treaty signed by 25 countries.”
Poland echoed that call.
Its Deputy Foreign Minister, Jan Truszczynski, said even though the constitution was “politically dead”, the process of its ratification must continue.
Britain’s opposition Conservative party, who oppose the constitution, also said it was dead and buried.
“I may no longer practise medicine but I can tell a corpse when I see one,” said foreign affairs spokesman Dr Liam Fox.
