Andrew Duff and numerous co-signatories have tabled thirteen new amendments to the draft Constitution.

The amendments concentrate on reforming the current Article 48 of the Treaty on European Union which insists that every institutional change has to be negotiated, ratified and brought into force by all member states acting unanimously - with no role for the European Parliament.

Duff proposes that the consensus needed in future to amend the Constitution will be defined as five-sixths of member states, or 21 countries in an EU of 25. The European Parliament will be asked to give its assent by a two-thirds majority. The revisions will be brought into force before all member states have ratified them, with the same threshold of five-sixths.

With respect to the Constitution whose drafting is now underway in the Convention, Duff argues that, although it has to be agreed by all heads of government, its entry into force should be envisaged once it has been ratified by five-sixths of member states.

In the case of a member state declining to ratify the Constitution, Duff supports the Praesidium's own draft which creates the option of secession from the Union. But Duff adds the alternative option of an associate form of membership. Such a partnership would be suitable for a country that wished to keep its membership of the single market but did not choose to play a part in the political union.

Introducing his amendments today, Duff said:

"The Convention cannot avoid the question of how to bring the Constitution into force any longer. One or two member states may be unwilling to accept the constitutional leap forward that Europe requires, but they have no right to block progress by the great majority of other countries.

"The procedures for constitutional change are critical to the Convention's success. Experience of the Convention has made me absolutely convinced that insistence of rigid unanimity in the Union of 25 means future paralysis. Today the European Union has earned its constitutional autonomy."

ENDS/...