European Union Intergovernmental Conference PDF Download

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215036278
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
The European Union Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) opened on 23 July 2007 and was initiated following a report originally produced by the German Presidency on the "Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe" (Constitutional Treaty, Cm.6429, ISBN 9780101642927), which in turn led to a "Draft IGC Mandate" setting out a detailed prescription on issues raised by the above report, circulated by the Presidency of the European Council. The report itself recommended a "Reform Treaty" which would amend existing treaties and so required an intergovernmental conference. The European Scrutiny Committee has set out a number of conclusions, including: the Committee questioned the aims of the European Council in engaging with EU citizens on the EU Constitution whilst setting out changes to the constitution in an essentially secretive manner; that the substance of the Reform Treaty is substantially equivalent to the Constitutional Treaty itself; the Committee is concerned about the UK's position under the Charter; that the UK retains opt-outs that were previously arranged under the Constitutional Treaty will still be retained under the Reform Treaty; that the proposals in the Reform Treaty raise a serious difficulty of a constitutional order, appearing to impose a legal duty on national parliaments to the European Union itself, the Committee calls such a legal duty on Parliament, objectionable, and states that as a matter of principle it should be resisted.