As rejected EU constitution rides again: Put it to a referendum!
Socialist Resistance in print2000sScanned print read by OCR, and not yet proofread: expect run-together words, dropped letters and, where a piece began partway down a page, a few lines of its neighbour. The printed page is the authority.
In his recent meeting with German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, Gordon Brown has made it clear that the re-presented EU constitution resurrected in the form of a treaty will not be put to a referendum as promised by Labour in 2004 - but will simply be put to Parliament.
Brown's stance recognises that people will not be taken in by this slight of hand, which comes alongside a shift to the right in The treaty would set in stone the neoliberal management of the European economy, and consolidate a Europe in which the decisions of elected Parliaments (with all their through increasing the voting power of the biggest and most powerful member states.
We want a Europe free from the neo-liberal polices of the WTO and the IMF, free from NATO, free from foreign military bases - a Europe free from weapons of mass destruction.
We want a Europe which respects the cultural, religious, political, and personal choices of its citizens.
We want a Europe which rejects nationalism and xenophobia, which bases itself on internationalism merger does not call either for a referendum or for a no vote in one.
While these resolutions must stand a very good chance of getting through Congress, that would only be the beginning of the battle.
The TUC leadership is notoriously pro-EU as they Brown and Merkel: how many times do they need to be told people hate their constitution? have sought to get some crumbs from the EU table on trade union rights having given up any serious attempt to re-establish any here.
So if either resolution were passed, there would need to be concerted pressure to get it implemented
The left inside and outside the trade unions should open a campaign for a referendum, and for a no vote in it, and create a progressive alternative to the xenophobic right.
There are fundamental working class issues involved and there has to be a working class voice in the debate around it.