EU Foreign Policy Plans Still "Unacceptable" to Britain
A British diplomat said the latest draft, released three days before the start Friday of a make-or-break summit on the historic first-ever constitution, would be rejected by London if unchanged.
"This remains unacceptable. There can be no question of QMV in common foreign policy," he said, referring to qualified majority voting, which removes the right of any individual EU country to veto a decision.
Britain has laid out a number of "red lines" on the constitution, notably the right of veto in such EU policy areas as foreign and defence policy, labour legislation and taxation.
The Italian move is widely seen as a negotiating tactic ahead of the EU summit, which aims at hammering out a constitution for the bloc as it expands from 15 to 25 members next year, and more in the coming years.
The latest draft would allow the presidency to present, as a concession to Britain, a re-introduction of veto rights in CFSP, helping it in negotiations which are likely to push brinkmanship to the limit.
Britain staunchly defended its right to vetos in the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) during a 17-month convention which produced a first draft of the new constitution in June.
But the Italian presidency, which is battling to secure agreement on the historic text at the Brussels summit, introduced the possibility of QMV voting on foreign policy issues in a draft last month.
That drew a scathing attack from British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who reiterated London's opposition at a meeting with his EU counterparts in Naples at the end of November.
"This is not just Britain, as a major player in Europe and a big country saying 'we want our independence', although we do in terms of foreign policy," he said at the time. "We also want to work co-operatively with every one of the other 25 members of the EU on foreign policy," he said. "The way you do that is by getting unanimity -- not, in this field, by QMV."