Britain: Death to the EU constitution

Peter Macdiarmid

With the European Union summit meeting starting Thursday, tensions are already running high.

The Brits are adamant in rejecting any move toward an EU-wide foreign policy. They don’t like the proposed new “EU foreign minister,” who they say should not chair the monthly meeting of member states’ foreign ministers. London also wants the proposed EU foreign service to be entirely intergovernmental and not include the 3,500-strong existing external services of the European Commission. Nor should the EU foreign minister be allowed to speak on behalf of the bloc at the United Nations, except with the permission of U.N. Security Council members, such as Britain.

In the hopes of preventing a train wreck, Germany’s latest proposal drops the idea of a constitution altogether and makes some important concessions to the Brits. A new “Reform Treaty” would accept that the EU will not have a foreign minister and will give countries the chance to opt out of EU policies in the areas of policing and criminal law. UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett responded, “[N]o deal is better than buying any old pig in a poke.” I’m not really up on my British colloquialisms, but that doesn’t sound like compromise is an option for London.

This is hardly unexpected behavior for Britain, whose island mentality often puts it at odds with mainland countries. Just think back to the start of the Iraq War: London wanted to preserve the special relationship with Washington, while France and Germany saw the war as the perfect opportunity to present a common EU foreign policy. This week’s summit ought to show that, even with more Anglo-Saxon-like leaders at the helm in Paris and Berlin, the underlying differences between Europe’s big players aren’t going away.