Brussels, 10/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - The House of Commons on Wednesday approved the bill (345 in favour, 130 against) which will allow a referendum to be held in the UK on the European Constitution, probably in 2006. In the course of the Commons debate, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw gave assurances that if the Constitution is adopted, no further integration would take place for decades, whereas if the British people reject it, “we are in unknown territory, weak and isolated in Europe”. Quoted in The Guardian, Mr Straw continued: “we would have to go cap in hand to Brussels to ask our partners to start all over again - re-opening negotiations in which we had secured such a good result. If we got any deal at all; it would be a worse not a better one, negotiated from a position of weakness, not strength”. In his view, “the long-term effect would be Britain falling into a semi-detached position in Europe whileothers went ahead without us. We'd be left without influence, out in the margins with no say in Europe's future direction”.
British MP and MEP Caroline Lucas, who is rigorously opposed to the Constitution (incontrast to most of the group led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Monica Frassoni) reiterated in a communication that “this Constitution, if adopted, will tie the hands of future British parliaments (…). Undoubtedly we need an EU constitution, just as we need a British constitution, to spell out the relationships between citizens and the institutions that govern them - but this just isn't it”. That said, Caroline Lucas welcomes “Blair's courage in keeping his word and giving the British people a chance” to reject the Constitution “once and for all”.
It is worth recalling that up to now, the Constitution has been ratified by the parliaments of Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia.