European politics with the elections of Merkel and Sarkosy, and that the chances of winning a referendum would be more or less impossible in Britain and difficult elsewhere.
Having been defeated in referendums in France and Holland last year EU leaders have changed the name of the constitution and juggled with some of the wording.
Now they are presenting it again for acceptance, arguing that since it is no longer
constitution, therefore troublesome referendums are no longer necessary. Only in Ireland is such a referendum currently scheduled.
In Britain the Tory right have been allowed to make the running on the issue with the left having little to say.
It is therefore doubly important that the RMT and the GMB unions have put resolutions on the issue on the agenda of thins year's TUC Congress calling for a referendum. These initiatives should be fully supported in the unions and more broadly
As the RMT resolution rightly says, nothing of sublimitations) are handed over to an unelected bureaucracy. stance has changed between this draft and the previous incarnation. It is the old rejected constitution smuggled back in with a few cosmetic changes.
The treaty would set in stone the neoliberal management of the European It would consolidate Europe in which the decisions of elected Parliaments (with all their limitations) are handed over to an unelected bureaucracy. It would institutionalise the EU's democratic deficit and supports the struggles of the oppressed and which protects the environment and challenges climate chaos.
The GMB resolution raises the issue of Britain's opt-out of the new charter of fundamental rights, which does not have much to offer at the European level-it has no reference to the right to strike or protection against unfair dismissal - but is better than the situation which exists in Britain.
Paul Kenny the general secretary of the GMB told the Guardian: "GMB members are sick and tired of being treated as second class citizens in Europe. If these rights are good enough for the French, German and Spanish workers they are good enough to apply to UK workers too".
Overall the RMT resolution (see box) is stronger, in particular because it calls for the General Council to campaign for a no vote in any referendum.
The debate on this issue could spell some tension inside Unite, since the T&G are very likely to support these resolutions while the Amicus side of the Congress notes the proposals in the new EU Reform Treaty are substantially the same as the EU constitution rejected by the French and Dutch electorates in 2005. Indeed the French architect of the Constitution, Valery Giscard d'Estaing stated the new EU treaty would be "very very near to the original."
The Treaty includes
• changing the European Union from an intergovernmental arrangement into a state with a single legal personality and corporate existence
• form a centralised government and include an EU President, a Foreign Minister called a High Representative, a diplomatic service and an EU Public Prosecutor.
L give further powers to EU institutions including the European Court of Justice and European Central Bank
• give the EU power to change itself without further treaties or referendums
• consolidate the single market and the drive to privatise public services
• further militarise the EU many other areas referendum
• abolish Britain's veto over transport and
At the 2005 General Election all three main political parties promised a referendum on such changes. Congress therefore calls on the government to hold an urgent referendum on the EU reform Treaty and for the General Council to also vigorously campaign for a
Congress also urges the General Council to campaign for a 'No' vote in line with the Congress policy decided in 2005
Finally the General Council is also urged to campaign for this position within the ETUC. Pour MOI C eSt