Andrew Duff calls for EU leaders to stand up to Britain

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 16th Jun 2004

European Liberal Democrat spokesman on the constitution, Andrew Duff MEP, has called for tomorrow's IGC summit to stand up to any unreasonable demands of the UK government.

In a statement today, Duff said:

"The British government is dangerously obsessive about its red lines. It shows next to no consideration for the common interest of all Europe.

"Endless repetition of British demands for more national vetoes across a large range of issues creates an atmosphere not intended to accomplish the constitutional settlement that Europe needs.

"Entrenching the national veto in the constitution will not make the enlarged European Union work well, and in some cases will lead to complete paralysis. London seems not to have grasped that it cannot alone have a veto on EU decision-making: the fact is that a British veto will be accompanied by 24 others, most of which will work against British interests.

"A British attempt to curb the powers of the European Parliament in budgetary, legislative and constitutional matters is an insult to democracy.

"British rearguard action against the Charter of Fundamental Rights leaves the citizen poorly protected against any possible abuse of the powers exercised by the supranational institutions.

"I urge Europe's leaders to stand up to such unreasonable demands from British ministers and officials whose political commitment to Europe is weak and whose grasp of the detail of the constitution is dubious."