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Blair under pressure to hold referendum on E.U. constitution

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON MAY 26. Pressure is mounting on the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to hold a referendum on the proposed European Union constitution, seen by Euro-sceptics as a blueprint for a European `superstate' which would erode Britain's national sovereignty in critical areas, including foreign policy and economy.

Those calling for a referendum got a boost from an unexpected quarter when Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the former French President, who is steering changes to the constitution, declared his support for the idea, telling the BBC that "we are not demanding a referendum but we will be very pleased'' if it happened.

His remarks, hours before he unveiled the draft proposals in Brussels on Monday, put him at odds with the Blair Government which has consistently rejected calls for a referendum saying that the new E.U. constitution is simply a "tidying up'' exercise for closer integration with Europe.

The remarks were regarded as `unhelpful' in Government circles at a time when Mr. Blair is struggling to sell his `vision' of Europe to a largely Euro-sceptic public. "They are bound to send alarm bells ringing through Downing Street,'' one commentator said.

Ministers moved quickly to defuse the row with Peter Hain, who represents Britain on the European Convention, urging critics to ``calm down''. "This will take another year to negotiate. There's a lot of work to do.... so let's just calm down and see how this goes,'' he said.

The Government also pointed to the concessions it had already extracted from Mr. d'Estaing to protect British interests. At Britain's insistence, he had agreed to drop the word `federal' from the draft constitution to allay fears that it implied an overarching federal Europe. Changes had also been made to recognise the sovereignty of member-states, and accommodate Britain's views on harmonisation of taxes and national vetoes.

British sensitivites

``We have achieved over the last few days a lot of the things which we thought we would but which the Tories and their friends in the media said we wouldn't,'' Mr. Hain said, and Mr. d'Estaing, who met Mr. Blair last week, said British sensitivities had been taken on board and the idea of "offending or destroying'' Britain was `nonsense'.

But the Tories, who are leading the campaign for a referendum, accused the Government of `surrendering' national interest. The party chief, Iain Duncan Smith, said the constitution threatened a "huge change to the way in which British people will be governed'' and they should be given a chance to have a say. The E.U. aims to adopt the new constitution in May 2004

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