Referendum: Er bestaat WEL een 'Plan B' (2)

[Dr. Marc-Alexander Fluks]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Bron:  The Sunday Telegraph.
Datum: 22 mei 2005
URL:   http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/22/weu22.xml


EU leaders dream up secret 'plan B' to rescue treaty if French say Non
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By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor

European leaders have drawn up a secret plan to rescue the EU constitution
if France votes narrowly against it in next week's referendum.

Until now senior EU figures, including Jose Manuel Barroso, the commission
president, have said that there is no "plan B" if the French reject the
constitutional treaty next Sunday, suggesting that it will effectively be
killed off by a No vote. The Sunday Telegraph has established, however,
that the 25 EU members plan to issue an emergency joint statement if
rejection is by a small margin.

The statement would insist that the constitution, the blueprint for the
EU's political future, lives on and that ratification must continue. The
treaty has to be endorsed by all 25 states to take effect.

Britain would therefore go ahead with its referendum, expected to be held
next spring. Opinion polls suggest that Tony Blair has a mountain to climb
to convince the public to back the constitution. Labour MPs increasingly
see the aftermath of Britain's referendum as an ideal moment for Mr Blair
to stand down in favour of Gordon Brown, the Chancellor.

If the French or the Dutch, who hold their referendum three days after
France, voted No, Mr Blair would face months of grinding EU diplomacy to
try to find a solution.

>From July 1 Britain takes over the rotating six-monthly presidency of the
EU from Luxembourg, whose foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, and his
deputy, Nicolas Schmidt, have been instrumental in drafting the rescue
plan, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

One of Britain's most pro-federalist Euro-MPs, Andrew Duff, a Liberal
Democrat, said: "I think if France says No narrowly you will find a formal
and coherent response from Brussels."


EU

Under the plan, the treaty would be voted on again by the French after its
ratification by all other EU states.

However, if France votes against the treaty by a big majority, a possible
outcome dubbed a "grand Non", many EU leaders accept that the constitution
would in effect be dead, and it would be futile to try to shore it up with
an emergency statement.

All eyes on Sunday will be on Jacques Chirac, the French President, to
assess his immediate reaction to the result. If he declares the treaty
doomed there is no chance of any effective rescue bid, given France's
status as a founder member of the EU.

In such circumstances, plans for Britain's referendum would be scrapped.

A senior Downing Street official said: "A No vote would put the ball
squarely back in the court of the French. The first question would be:
what are they going to do about it? We would look at it as a French
responsibility. But the idea that all the member states would immediately
declare the treaty dead on May 30 is wrong. Protocol alone requires
careful discussion while the Dutch vote."

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(c) 2005 Telegraph Group Limited

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