THE EU: Mr Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who is presiding over the Convention on the Future of Europe, yesterday ruled out the possibility of a Europe-wide referendum on a new constitution for the EU.
Speaking after the convention had debated his outline draft of a constitution, the former French president said it would not be practical to have a referendum with European citizens voting as one electorate.
Instead it would be up to each EU state to choose its method of ratification, he said.
Publication on Monday of the so-called skeleton of an EU constitution precipitated a welter of questions on how such a document, once fleshed out, might be introduced to replace the existing bundle of overlapping treaties and laws.
In remarks that seemed at odds with those of Mr Giscard, the former Italian prime minister Mr Giuliano Amato, one of two vice-presidents of the convention, said that ratification by referendum was desirable. "Obviously it would be stronger with a popular referendum," he said.
But Mr Giscard said: "The standard ratification procedure in each member-state will be applied. Some countries will have a problem with having a referendum."
Historically, Spain and Portugal have been suspicious of referendums because plebiscites were a favourite tool of their fascist dictatorships.
But participants in the convention said next time around Ireland would not be the only country to put the overhaul of the EU's treaties to a popular vote, as it was for the Nice Treaty.
Whereas the Nice Treaty was regarded by some countries as making only minor changes to the organisation of the EU, the scale of changes involved with the introduction of a constitution would induce more countries to resort to a referendum, said Mr Andrew Duff, a British Liberal Democrat MEP and a leading protagonist in the convention.
He said a more relevant comparison was with the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. Ireland held a referendum in June of that year and secured 67 per cent approval for ratification.
France also passed the treaty by referendum, while Denmark rejected the treaty initially and then ratified it in a second referendum.
Mr Duff said he expected Sweden, Austria and Finland, which have joined the EU since the Maastricht Treaty, would also hold referendums. "The Italians are also quite likely to resort to a referendum," he said.
"The Irish will not be on their own." But Mr Duff said it was still not clear what would happen if an existing member of the EU failed or refused to ratify the treaty.
The existing Treaty on European Union lays down that changes to the treaties "shall enter into force after being ratified by all the member-states in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements".
But Mr Duff said that among the innovations made in revising the EU treaty, "there will be a Plan B".
He believes the new constitution should introduce a category of associate membership for countries with which the EU wants a special relationship but cannot offer full membership.