-Caveat Lector- http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,47203,00.html WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 06 2000 Secret plan for EU �superstate� By Martin Fletcher and Philip Webster Berlin and Rome expose Blair to new line of attack GERMANY and Italy delivered a serious blow to Tony Blair on the eve of the Nice summit yesterday by calling for yet another round of negotiations to achieve an even closer European Union. In a confidential joint paper sent to France, which holds the EU�s rotating Presidency, Berlin and Rome said the summit should agree to hold an inter-governmental conference (IGC) in 2004 �with a view to the further development of European integration�. The Times has obtained the paper, which shows that even before the Nice treaty is signed leading EU members are looking for ways to increase integration in the next one. It immediately refuelled Eurosceptic claims that the EU is on the road to becoming a �superstate�. Francis Maude, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, called the document a �bombshell that shows the true agenda at the heart of Europe�. He claimed that the Government was �privately happy with this agenda, but publicly denies it is happening�. The Government, however, insisted that the paper was merely a document for discussion � �any member State can produce a document for consideration in an IGC and that�s what the Germans and Italians have done�. The paper plays into the hands of Eurosceptics by fuelling the impression that integration is a relentless one-way process. However, many of Germany�s preliminary ideas, including stopping the flow of powers from national governments to Brussels, are strongly welcomed by London, which in recent days has softened its position over a future IGC. The new paper surfaced on the day that Peter Mandelson, the Cabinet�s leading pro-European, said that the EU�s founding fathers� dream of an ever closer union was now dead. He insisted that the Nice treaty would confirm that Europe was now a �pragmatic venture�. Mr Blair has previously insisted that such a conference should not happen until after enlargement of the EU has begun. Yesterday his official spokesman said that, provided it was not a hurdle to enlargement, the proposal could be looked at. The paper gives the Conservatives further ammunition by saying the IGC should consider whether to make the EU�s controversial new Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding � an idea the Government opposes. It says the IGC should consider �a simplification of the treaties with a view to achieving improved legibility and clarity�. British Eurosceptics have long regarded �treaty simplification� � which would create a separate document for the EU�s core principles � as a back-door route to a European constitution. The paper also says that the proposed IGC should define the relative powers of Brussels and the national Governments, an idea Mr Blair advocated in October and something Germany�s 16 regional governments are insisting on as a way of limiting Brussels� powers. Britain accepts that the demand for another IGC in 2004 has become crucial for Germany as the Nice summit approaches, but its proposed timing will be another source of controversy. Mr Blair said in October that it should not begin before the first new members from central Europe have joined the EU. The German-Italian paper says that the candidate countries should be involved in extensive pre-IGC discussions and that �the conclusion of the 2004 conference is not a pre-condition for the accession of new members�. Those discussions should also include national Parliaments, MEPs, academics, business and civil society. Belgium, which inherits the EU Presidency next July, wants to set the process in train with a declaration next December to be followed by a convention comprising national, European and candidate country politicians. The IGC would then formalise the results. The Government is loath to trigger �three years of endless speculation� by agreeing at all to a new IGC at this point, but recognises that the German Chancellor needs to set a date for domestic political reasons. Europe�s heads of government will now have to haggle over the wording of the summit�s final communiqu� on the post-Nice agenda, on top of all the other intensely difficult issues they must resolve. Mr Blair will be determined to change the key paragraph of the German-Italian proposal, which says the 2004 IGC should explore �the further development of the process of European integration�. Government officials acknowledged that it was not a felicitous phrase, but said that the problem was primarily semantic as those words had different connotations in Germany. On the Charter of Rights, which is to be �proclaimed� in Nice but not incorporated into EU law, one British source said: �We will have to make it clear there�s no question of it ever in the history of mankind becoming a legal binding text.� Officals said the Government could accept the simplification of the treaties to make them more accessible, but not if the idea was to produce a constitution. But Mr Maude said that the paper exposed the Government�s �breathtaking willingness to mislead the British people�. �On the day Peter Mandelson claims European integration is over, plans are exposed to take the EU further down the integrationist road." �At least other politicians throughout the EU have the courage to argue their convictions. Labour�s are hiding their real agenda. Nice is a staging post on the road to an EU superstate. Why can�t they be honest? �Other countries are happy to talk about deeper integration. Peter Mandelson denies it will happen. Other countries are happy to talk about a European army. Robin Cook denies there is one. Other countries are happy to talk about the euro leading to political integration. Gordon Brown denies it will happen. On Europe this Government is in denial.� Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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