Europe's leaders to announce new Super State treaty
Pastor Dale Morgan
Europe's leaders to announce new Super State treaty*
By Bruno Waterfield in Berlin
Last Updated: 12:44am GMT 24/03/2007
Tony Blair will join Europe's leaders today to declare, amid great pomp
and ceremony, that "we the citizens" are ready for an EU Constitution
Mark II within two years.
A "Berlin declaration" is the centrepiece of a weekend of grand and
lavish celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the EU's original
Treaty of Rome.
Europe's heads of state will discuss a new mission statement for the EU
after French and Dutch voters rejected the European Constitution in 2005.
A key part of the text, crafted by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
the current holder of the EU presidency, is a commitment to agreement
and ratification of a new European treaty by the time of euro elections
in June 2009.
Tomorrow, Miss Merkel, Mr Blair and other European leaders will discuss
possible ways of resurrecting elements of the old constitution without
triggering referendums and more defeats in the months ahead.
New Brussels powers to fight climate change and terrorism, a European
foreign minister and an EU president are old constitution proposals
expected to make a comeback.
In German newspaper interviews yesterday, Miss Merkel said: "It takes a
long time for the 27 member states to reach a consensus that we need an
EU constitutional treaty to harmonise the decisionmaking mechanisms."
The declaration and talks come as the first ever opinion poll across all
the EU's member states shows a growing gulf between Europe's elites and
citizens.
The Open Europe survey found that 75 per cent of Europeans want a chance
to vote on any new treaty that gives more powers to the EU - a demand
almost certain to be ignored. Only 28 per cent back new powers for Europe.