Conservatives ponder EU referendum policy
Updated on 03 November 2009
As a Czech court rules that the Lisbon Treaty is in line with the country's constitution the Conservatives are expected to announce a change in EU referendum policy.
The Czech Constitutional Court threw out a complaint against the EU's Lisbon Treaty on Tuesday, removing the last obstacle to its ratification. But now, as Political Editor Gary Gibbon blogs, a "Conservative announcement of a change in policy is now expected very soon".
He writes: "If David Cameron won the general election, he would launch an attempt in Europe to get powers repatriated to the UK - a mighty task given treaty-fatigue in the EU.
"Perhaps more important though, in the great scheme of things, is the policy already announced in October 2007 but likely to be re-announced in the coming hours or days: the plan to make the UK, like Ireland and some other EU countries, a state that can only ratify an EU treaty after a referendum.
"It's hard to imagine how any treaty in the last 20 years would've got through a referendum in the UK. Could even a treaty that repatriated powers be sure of support in a referendum?"
Read Gary Gibbon's blog here.
The Czech ruling allows eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus to sign the treaty, which will give the EU its first long-term president and streamline decision-making in the bloc of 27 states and nearly half a billion people.
The Czech Republic is the only EU member state that has not yet ratified the pact, which needs the consent of all member states to come into force.
Klaus was banned by law from signing it until the court had ruled on a complaint by his allies in the Czech upper house of parliament, the Senate, who argue the treaty would erode national sovereignty.
Klaus long argued against the Lisbon Treaty, saying it would turn the EU into a superstate with little democratic control.
If Klaus signs the treaty within a couple of weeks, as expected, it will come into force in January, turning attention to who will be the EU's first president.
EU leaders failed to agree at their summit last week in Brussels on who should take the job, which will have limited powers, and a special summit may be needed to reach a deal.
The chances of the once-favoured candidate, former British prime minister Tony Blair, seem doomed after he failed to win an endorsement from the European Socialists, his Labour Party's allies.
