Questions and Answers on the proposed EU Reform Treaty

1. What changes does it make to the current EU system?

The changes amount to a set of pragmatic reforms to the current EU structure aimed at streamlining the institutions to cater for the greater number of Member States and at enhancing parliamentary accountability. The following are the most notable:

• A new voting system in the Council, which will give each country a vote proportionate to its population (thereby increasing Britain 's vote)

• Future EU legislation will require, first, prior examination by national parliaments, second, approval by the EU Council of Ministers (composed of national ministers accountable to those national parliaments) and, third, approval of the European Parliament (composed of our directly elected MEPs). This is a level of scrutiny that exists in no other international organisation.

• The election of the President of the Commission by the European Parliament.

• Replacing the six-month rotating “Buggin's Turn” presidency of the European Council with a chosen 30-month one.

• Merging the two jobs of "Commissioner responsible for external relations" and "High Representative responsible for external relations" into a single post.

• A new budgetary procedure requiring the approval of all EU expenditure by both the Council of Ministers and the Parliament.

• Capping the size of the European Parliament at 751 members.

• A reduction in the size of the Commission.

• Adding the fight against climate change to the Union 's objectives on environmental policy.

• A new provision ring-fencing social security systems from unwanted or unintended effects of European law.

2. Where does it extend QMV? 

There are 49 new articles that will use Qualified Majority Voting in the Council of Ministers. The then Prime Minister Tony Blair stated in the House of Commons debate on the Council summit on 25th June that:

"Thirteen of them do not apply to the UK because they are about the eurozone or judicial and home affairs, which we have opted out of. Six involved issues such as allowing a group of citizens to propose initiatives; the negotiation of a withdrawal agreement; two relate to ending special state aid provisions for Germany post-unification. Nine are minor and technical, including the Council review on the composition of the Committee of the Regions, and the Comitology committee. Nine of them relate to new legal bases, but powers already exist.

There are nine articles of genuine substance on matters such as the implementation of own resources decisions, which it is in Britain's interests to have QMV on, because it allows us to ensure that countries cannot block that; on the authorisation, co-ordination and supervision of intellectual property rights protection, which, it is absolutely in Britain's interests to have; and on matters such as urgent aid to third countries and humanitarian aid operations."

Hardly the apocalyptic vision conjured by the Eurosceptics!

3. How does it differ from the Constitutional Treaty?

Most notably:

• The concept of a "constitution" has been explicitly abandoned. Instead of re-founding the EU on a new legal basis (the constitution) that would have repealed and replaced the previous treaties, the Reform Treaty simply amends those treaties.

• The designation "Foreign Minister" has been dropped.

• The symbols (EU flag and anthem) that caused some people to fear that a superstate was being created, have been dropped.

• The plan to change the terminology for EU legal instruments, with EU regulations becoming "EU laws" and EU directives becoming "EU framework laws", has been scrapped.

• The Charter of Fundamental Rights will not be a full part of the treaty. It will be binding on the EU institutions and on European law with a protocol added to clarify that it does not effect or override UK domestic law.

• The changes to the voting weights in the Council of Ministers will not start to come into effect until 2014

• An opt-in/opt-out choice is given to Britain and Ireland on criminal law and co-operation on legal matters.

• Foreign policy co-operation has special provisions that make it explicitly subordinate to national governments finding consensus.

Some countries claim that 90 % of the constitutional treaty remains intact. However, the percentage is certainly lower for Britain , with its opt-outs, and anyway the parts abandoned contain precisely those aspects which gave rise to the most concerns.

4. Does it warrant a referendum?

No, Britain has never had a referendum to ratify an international treaty, and it is ludicrous to suggest that one should be held on a treaty which does modest things such as changing the length of the Presidency of the European Council from six months to 30 months. No EU member state, apart from Ireland which is constitutionally required to hold referenda on any change whatsoever to the EU treaties, is planning to hold a referendum on the new treaty.

Britain 's tradition is as a parliamentary democracy - like previous treaties, the proposed Reform Treaty should be scrutinised, debated and voted on in the Houses of Parliament.

The Conservatives have called for a referendum to hide their divisions on Europe, while the well-financed UKIP/Open Europe campaign, backed by the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Telegraph and the Express, hopes a referendum will be an opportunity to engineer British withdrawal from the EU as they reckon few people know enough about it and most will use the opportunity to vote against the government. Not that they are helping people to understand it – rather, they spread all kinds of scare stories about it!

5. What does the rest of Europe think?

All 27 governments agreed to the mandate for the IGC to draw up the treaty changes as agreed and all have agreed to try to ratify before the 2009 European elections.

Most welcome the fact that many of the practical institutional reforms contained in the Constitutional Treaty have been salvaged, even if they regret the parts that have been sacrificed and have misgivings about Britain's opt-outs and derogations.

Federalists, however, are disappointed! The idea of a "constitution" has been abandoned. Ditto for the EU's Foreign Minister. The longer term of office means that the President of the intergovernmental European Council, chosen by the Prime Ministers of the member states, will become more prominent at the expense of the President of the Commission elected by the European Parliament. There is to be no majority voting on tax, on foreign policy or on security. Foreign policy is to remain firmly intergovernmental. The Commission's "embassies" around the world are now to come under the joint responsibility of the Council and the Commission, allowing member states to have greater control over them and to place their own staff in them. The Charter of Rights has been partially neutered. There are more opt-outs for member states, not least the UK.

None the less, all accept it as a compromise likely to improve the functioning of the Union.

Richard Corbett MEP

Deputy Leader, EPLP

Labour spokesman on the new treaty