Politicians' Quotes
The Reform Treaty in Quotes
The Reform Treaty = Rejected Constitution
Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
"The substance of the Constitution is preserved. That is a fact."
(Telegraph, 29 June 2007)
Bertie Ahern, Irish Premier
"90 per cent of it is still there... these changes haven't made any dramatic change to the substance of what was agreed back in 2004."
(Irish Independent, 24 June 2007)
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister
"The good thing is...that all the symbolic elements are gone, and that which really matters – the core – is left."
(Jyllands-Posten, 25 June 2007)
Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Chairman of the Constitutional Convention
"This text is, in fact, a rerun of a great part of the substance of the Constitutional Treaty."
(Telegraph, 27 June 2007)
Margot Wallstrom, EU Commissioner
"It’s essentially the same proposal as the old Constitution."
(Svenska Dagbladet, 26 June 2007)
The Reform Treaty is a New Treaty
David Miliband, British Foreign Secretary
"The Constitutional Treaty has been abandoned."
(Hansard, 3 July 2007)
Jan Peter Balkenende, Dutch Prime Minister
"This is a normal change of treaty and only needs a normal procedure to approve it."
(Mail 21 September 2007)
Referendum Promises
Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister
"If we had the same constitutional treaty that was abandoned, we said there would be a referendum."
(Reuters 26 September 2007).
Report by the Commons European Scrutiny Committee - Britain
"Taken as a whole, the Reform Treaty produces a general framework which is substantially equivalent to the Constitutional Treaty."
(European Union Intergovernmental Conference Thirty-fifth Report of Session 2006-07 - The House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee 9 October 2007)
Democratic Process?
Giuliano Amato, Former Italian Prime Minister
"They decided that the document should be unreadable. If it is unreadable, it is not Constitutional, that was the sort of perception... Should you succeed in understanding it at first sight there might be some reason for a referendum, because it would mean that there is something new."
(CER meeting, 12 July 2007)
Karel de Gucht, Belgian Foreign Minister
"The aim of the Constitutional Treaty was to be more readable; the aim of this treaty is to be unreadable… The Constitution aimed to be clear, whereas this treaty had to be unclear. It is a success."
(Flandreinfo, 23 June 2007)
Jean Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg
"Britain is different. Of course there will be transfers of sovereignty. But would I be intelligent to draw the attention of public opinion to this fact?"
(Telegraph, 3 July 2007)
Jan Peter Balkenende, Dutch Premier
"A new referendum is unnecessary and undesirable."
(Telegraph 23 September 2007)
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