The truth about those treaties

I fear that nobody is being very clear about the Constitutional Treaty and its replacement the Reform Treaty.

Firstly, the EU like the UK (and unlike the USA) does not have one document which can be called its constitution. Like the UK, the EU's constitution consists of several documents and conventions about working methods. In the case of the UK, the documents are individual Acts of Parliament. In the case of the EU, they are treaties. Whilst the new Reform Treaty is not a constitution in itself, it is one of the many documents which would make up the constitution of the EU. It would of course have been clearer to have the constitution embodied in just one treaty, but people were frightened of the word "constitution".

Secondly, the two treaties are very similar but neither of them do what their critics say they do. They pose no threat to the UK's supposed independence (unlike, I would suggest, our relationship with the USA). In fact, either treaty would make the EU more democratic and its institutions more accountable

The following three posts set out the effects of the two treaties and how the Reform Treaty varies form the Constitutional Treaty.

Making the EU more efficient

Constitutional Treaty in blue
Reform Treaty in red
1. The EU’s foreign policy High Representative and the Commissioner for External Relations—two posts causing duplication and confusion—would be merged into a single EU ‘Foreign Minister’, able to speak for the Union on those subjects where EU countries agree a common line.

CHANGED. The merger of the two posts is retained, but the job title “Foreign Minister” is sensibly changed to “High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy” to make clearer what is actually involved in the post.

2. There would be a new voting system in the Council of Ministers, with a qualified majority requiring the support of a “double majority” of at least 55 per cent of countries who must also represent at least 65 per cent of the EU’s population.

CHANGED. The double majority voting system has been retained, but will be phased in from 2014 to meet Polish objections.

3. More decisions in the Council of Ministers would be by Qualified Majority Voting. Exceptions include subjects that are sensitive for national sovereignty, such as tax, social security, foreign policy and defence. These will continue to require unanimity.

UNCHANGED.

4. More flexibility: where not all countries want to join in a new policy, arrangements can be made to allow groups of countries to do so and others not. Britain can opt-in or out of policies concerning frontiers, asylum and police and judicial cooperation.

REINFORCED. In fact, more flexibility/opt-out arrangements have now been introduced.

5. The European Commission will be reduced in size: fewer Commissioners, with member states taking it in turn to nominate Commissioners two times out of three.

UNCHANGED.

6. The European Council (the three-monthly meetings of prime ministers) would choose a president to chair their meetings for 2½ years, replacing the current 6-monthly rotation

UNCHANGED.

7. The size of the European Parliament would be capped.

UNCHANGED.

Increasing accountability and parliamentary scrutiny

Constitutional Treaty in blue
Reform Treaty in red

8. The adoption of all EU legislation would be subject to the prior scrutiny of national Parliaments and the double approval of both national governments (in the Council of Ministers) and directly elected MEPs – a level of scrutiny that exists in no other international structure.

UNCHANGED

9. National parliaments would receive all EU proposals in good time to mandate their ministers before Council meetings and would also gain the right to object directly to draft legislation if they feel it goes beyond the EU’s remit.

CHANGED National parliaments will be given more time to review legislative proposals – 8 weeks rather than 6.

10. The European Parliament would elect the President of the Commission, on the basis of a proposal from the European Council.

UNCHANGED

11. A new budget procedure would require the approval of all EU expenditure by both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

UNCHANGED

12. Any EU law or any action taken by EU institutions could be struck down by the courts if it fails to comply with the Charter of Fundamental Rights that was approved by all Member States in 2000.

CLARIFIED. The Charter of Fundamental Rights has been given legal force but will apply only to laws or actions by the EU institutions within the EU treaties. There is a specific exemption to say that it does not apply to the domestic law of the United Kingdom

13. The exercise of delegated powers by the Commission would be brought under a new system of joint supervision by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, enabling either of them to overturn Commission measures to which they object.

UNCHANGED

14. When acting on legislation, the Council of Ministers would meet in public.

UNCHANGED

Limiting EU competences - not a “superstate”

Constitutional Treaty in blue
Reform Treaty in red

15. It would guarantee that the Union will never be a centralised all-powerful ‘superstate’ by laying down:
(a) the obligation to “respect the national identities of member states, inherent in their fundamental structures, political and constitutional”;
(b) the principle of conferred powers (whereby the Union has only those competencies bestowed on it by the member states);
(c) the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, limiting EU action to the minimum necessary to achieve the objectives agreed by member states;
(d) the participation of member states themselves in the decision taking system of the Union;
(e) the principle of “unity with diversity”.

CONFIRMED

16. It would merge the confusingly overlapping “European Community” and “European Union” into a single legal entity and structure.

UNCHANGED

17. It would provide a clear definition of the field of competence of the EU, without conferring any new fields of responsibility upon it.

REINFORCED. In fact, an additional declaration has been added to emphasise the limitations on the EU’s competences.

18. It would replace the complex and overlapping set of EU treaties with a single document spelling out clearly the powers of the EU and their limits.

CHANGED. Scrapped in favour of an “amending treaty”, in the same format and style as previous treaties such as Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice.

19. It would simplify EU instruments and their terminology, replacing jargon with more easily understandable terms (EU regulations become “EU laws”, EU directives become “EU framework laws”, and so on).

CHANGED. The old terminology is retained.

20. It would maintain the EU’s tough and effective powers over competition policy.

UNCHANGED. A new protocol to the treaty makes clear that the change in the wording of the preamble does not affect the existing policies, case law nor operational methods of EU competition policy.

Not an ego trip !

Most of the items below are about me and my experience. I have posted these first as all the enquiries I have received so far have been about this. I will also post on policy matters, which should be more interesting.

My work in the South East

I was Head of European Affairs for East Sussex County Council from 1995 to 2002. I had two main aims, to increase the volume and usefulness of European funding in the county and to persuade the councils and other bodies of the South-East to work together in influencing the EU.

Funding
I managed East Sussex’s INTERREG II trans-border programme with Upper Normandy which supported a wide range of projects by the public and private sectors and the voluntary sector. I helped to set up the successor programme INTERREG III which also involved Kent. My office also built up a successful programme of projects using the European Social Fund to help the unemployed. I co-ordinated the campaign which which led to Hastings, Dover and Thanet receiving Objective 2 funds from the EU.

Representation and Lobbying
We don’t have democratic regional government in the UK, which puts us at a disadvantage when competing with regions across Europe for attention in Brussels. Instead we have government regional offices (GOSE in the South-East) which represent Whitehall, regional development agencies (SEEDA) appointed and funded by central government and regional assemblies (SEERA) which have delegates from local government and elsewhere and carry out functions largely carried out by counties before. I worked in many ways with all these bodies and, in particular, argued for joint representation to the EU which was finally achieved by the establishment of South-East England House in Brussels, which I helped to manage.

The South-East of England is rightly seen as the richest part of the country but it contains many pockets of poverty and lack of skill, disguised by the overall statistics. Together with colleagues from across the region, I put together a campaign to promote the needs of the South-East to the European institutions. I led an all-party delegation of councillors from all over the South-East to lobby the European Commission and Parliament. We achieved some vital amendments to funding legislation which would otherwise have prevented the South-East from receiving European funds.

European Union experience (short version)

I have worked with not for the EU institutions, but for NGOs, public and private bodies.

Young Federalists (JEF) 1978-83
I raised EC funds and organised many international conferences. JEF trained many people who now hold decisive positions within the EU.

Regional Policy (RETI) 1991-3
I revitalised a network of older industrial regions of Europe, recruiting new regions in the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany. We persuaded the EU to double Objective 2 funds to help these regions convert to new economic activity.

Environmental Policy 1995-93
I ran the EU office of BirdLife International, (RSPB in the UKwe got environmental criteria put in structural funds regulations. We stopped Delors and the French government weakening protection of species and strengthened it. We stopped the German government from building a motorway through a protected valley.

South-East
At East Sussex I worked with groups across the South-East to raise the region’s profile in Brussels and attract more funding. Please see separate posting on the South-East.

European Union experience (long version)

I have never worked inside the institutions of the European Union but have known them well, watched them develop over 30 years and learned how to influence them as an ordinary citizen and a lobbyist on behalf of many groups, including local and regional government and environmental NGOs.

Young Federalists

From 1978-83 as Secretary-General and then as President of Jeunesse Européenne Fédéraliste (Young European Federalists), I raised funds from the European Commission and from the Council of Europe and organised many international conferences with Commission and European Parliament participation. I doubt that we had a big impact on policy but we did train many people who have gone on to high positions in the European institutions. In one small way, we have affected the daily business of the European Parliament; the parliament’s rules of procedures contain rules copied directly from the standing orders I wrote for the young federalists. See separate posting on federalism.

Regional Policy

From 1990-95 I worked as a lobbyist in Brussels for a variety of organisations. In particular I campaigned on Regional Policy and Environmental Policy. I took over the running of a rather moribund organisation, RETI, representing a network of older industrial regions of Europe, where traditional industries such as coal, steel and ship-building were in terminal decline. I built up the network recruiting new regions in the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany. We put together a campaign to increase EU funding to help these regions convert to new economic activity (Objective 2 funding) and lobbied teh Commission, the Parliament and national governments. As a result, Objective 2 funding was doubled.

Environmental Policy

I then set up the EU office of BirdLife International, a global conservation network whose biggest European member is RSPB. I lobbied successfully for environmental criteria to be included in the management of structural funds. I took on and defeated the French government and Jacques Delors, who wanted to appeal to the votes of French hunters by weakening the Birds Directive which protects migrating birds. The amending legislation finally adopted reflected almost exactly the policy which we advocated and strengthened teh protection of birds during the breeding season. The most difficult campaign was to persuade the European Commission to enforce European law on species and habitat conservation against the wishes of the German government which wanted to build a new motorway through two protected valleys. We managed to save one.

South-East

Back in the UK, from a base at East Sussex County Council, I worked with groups across the South-East to raise the region’s profile in Brussels and attract more funding. Please see separate posting on the South-East.

Short biased summary CV

I developed an early interest in politics and debating at school, which continued at university where I became President of the Cambridge Union. After university I became a local government lawyer but was much more interested in European politics which led me to my first job in Brussels as Secretary-General of the Young European Federalists, an organisation of 10,000 members in 15 countries. I returned to the UK in 1980, re-trained and joined ICL to design software and then in marketing. However, my interest in politics dominated, I continued to be active in European politics and became very active in the Liberal Party, standing as our candidate in the target seat of Gainsborough & Horncastle in the disappointing election of 1987, where we sadly failed to "break the mould". Having re-married and started a family, I returned to Brussels in 1990 where I worked as a lobbyist, firstly for a range of private and public sector clients, then for a network of the older industrial regions (Objective 2) and finally for BirdLife International (RSPB in Britain) campaigning on conservation and environment. I returned to Britain in 1995 to run European Affairs for East Sussex. I now run Inside Europe which is my own consultancy working chiefly with universities and research institutes but also campaigning on climate change.

Long factual CV

David Grace, Curriculum Vitae so far...

Personal

1951 Born

1972 Married (first time)

1976 Divorced (first time)

1989 Married (second time)

1999 Divorced (second time)

Two sons, Charlie (18) and Toby (12)

Education

1956-60 Richmond Avenue Primary School, Shoeburyness, Essex

1960-61 Lymington Church of England Primary School, Hampshire

1961-64 Skippers Hill Manor Preparatory School, Five Ashes, Sussex

1964-69 Dover College

1970-73 Magdalene College, Cambridge: Part I: Economics & Politics, Part II: History

1973-74 Wolfson College, Cambridge: Law

1981-82 Wolfson College, Cambridge: Computer Science Diploma Course

Professional

1974-78 Greater London Council, Legal & Parliament Department

1978-80 Secretary-General, Jeunesse Européenne Fédéraliste (Young European Federalists)

1982-86 International Computers Limited, software development and marketing

1986-87 Federal Union, Company Secretary

1988-90 Commission for Local Administration (Local Ombudsman), Investigator

1990-91 Account Director, R&M European Strategy

1991-93 Director, European Association for Regions of Industrial Technology (RETI)

1993-95 Head of European Union Office, BirdLife International

1995-2002 Head of European Affairs, East Sussex County Council

2002- Director, Inside Europe, European Consultancy

Secretary, James Madison Trust

Secretary, Action for a Global Climate Community

Political

1963 My first speech in favour of British membership of the European Communities

1973 President, Cambridge Union Society

1974 Joined Liberal Party

1976 Joined Young European Federalists

1977 Chairman, Radical Youth for Europe (Young Liberal organisation)

Executive, Jeunesse Européenne Fédéraliste (European youth organisation)

1978-80 Secretary-General, Jeunesse Européenne Fédéraliste (Young European Federalists)

1981-83 President, Jeunesse Européenne Fédéraliste

1985-87 PPC and Candidate, Gainsborough & Horncastle Constituency

1980s Liberal Party Foreign Affairs Panel, European Community Affairs Panel and International Development Panel

British Council of the European Movement

Federal Committee, Union of European Federalists

British Liberal delegate, European Liberals and Democrats Conferences

Treasurer, Liberal European Action Group

1986 Silver Medal for work for European Unity, awarded by the Friends of Robert Schumann Foundation, Metz.

1987-88 Liberal Party Candidates Committee

2006- Chair, Liberal Democrats for Peace & Security

First E-mail

I am an old-fashioned politician who likes to meet people face to face but there are 12,000 Liberal Democrats in the South-East, so forgive me for this impersonal approach.

Eurosceptics have been winning the European debate in Britain by default because politicians have been too cautious or too cowardly to make the case for the European Union and our role in it. Sadly, our own party cannot be exempted from this charge. For years we have taken our support for the European Union for granted and failed to debate it properly. The Eurosceptics spreading fear about immigration and loss of sovereignty have us all on the back foot. Liberals do not win in a climate of fear. We must campaign on the basis of the good news about Europe and the hope which the EU brings for us all.

We can tell voters the good news about the biggest single market in the world and the good news about EU spending in the South-East. As Head of European Affairs at East Sussex County Council I helped to bring over £60 million to the region.

We can tell people that the EU leads on environmental issues which nations cannot solve alone, not least climate change. As an environmental lobbyist, I know my way around the European institutions and I have successfully changed EU law and policies.

We must tell people the forgotten truth that the European Union has brought peace to Europe and can build a peaceful world. Since the Iraq war security is a top issue. People share our conviction that international law is better than war. I chair Liberal Democrats for Peace and Security and I campaign for a Britain which plays a full part in making the EU a force for peace instead of a Britain which slavishly follows American foreign policy. We can and must become part of the solution and no longer part of the problem.

We can demonstrate that Liberal Democrats lead on all these issues. I want to show voters that the European Union is vital to a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. I ask you to give me the chance to show that the Liberal Democrats are vital to the EU.

Thank you for reading this. If you agree with me, please give me your 1^st preference vote. If you want know more about my experience and views, please read my blog, Hope in place of fear at http://hopeipofear.blogspot.com/

Best wishes,

David Grace