A British "No" vote in a planned referendum on the EU constitution would be tantamount to a vote to leave the bloc, one of the country's two European Commissioners said yesterday.
External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten told the Observer newspaper a "No" vote in the referendum Prime Minister Tony Blair promised in a career-threatening U-turn last week would drive Britain from the EU -- set to expand on May 1 from 15 to 25 members.
"If we ever get into this referendum it's really going to be about whether we want to stay in. What's the point of being inside and endlessly, truculently making trouble," he said.
Asked if a vote against the constitution would mean Britain quitting the EU, the former Conservative Party government minister and ardent europhile said:
"I think as good as. I just think that psychologically we can't go on like this."
The proposed EU constitution, designed to oil the bloc's creaking decision-making mechanisms, which were drawn up when the group had just six original members, is scheduled to be agreed at an EU summit in June.
Blair, a staunch pro-European who has repeatedly rejected calls for plebiscites on a range of issues including the constitution, did an abrupt about-face on the issue on Tuesday.
But the once unassailable Blair, who has led his Labour Party to two consecutive landslide election wins but lost public trust over the war in Iraq, faces a serious uphill struggle.
An ICM poll in the News of the World said just 25 percent of people would support the proposed EU constitution, although 51 percent would vote to stay in the bloc.
The poll echoed similar results from other soundings during last week.
But the Sunday Telegraph quoted an unnamed government official it said was close to Blair as saying they were confident they could convince a traditionally europhobic populace.
"We know that if we had the referendum now we would lose. We know it is a very big risk. But we believe we can turn it around," the official was quoted as saying.
However, the pro-Conservative and euroskeptic Telegraph, which had campaigned for a referendum on the constitution, balanced this optimistic view with one of its own mocking Blair.
"A fading Blair is embracing a cause with the smell of death upon it: European integration," it said in an editorial.
Political analysts have said a "No" vote in the British referendum -- which is expected to take place in mid-2005 -- could torpedo both Blair's future and the constitution's.
Aware of the paralysis a British rejection could cause the bloc, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told Focus magazine he wanted the new constitution to permit implementation of new voting rules even if not all countries had ratified the deal.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office, which on Saturday hosted a party in central London to celebrate the imminent eastward expansion of the bloc with free food, drink and music, declined to comment on the German Chancellor's suggestion.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability