Andrew Turner, the Island’s MP, today questioned the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, on the issue of amending existing treaties.
Mr Turner asked the Foreign Secretary:
“It is said that the Eurozone needs a new treaty to regularise the bail-out of Greece. It is claimed this will not affect the UK as we are not part of the Eurozone. Can the Minister confirm that the UK will not need to approve any such treaty – or that if we do that the public will be given a referendum on the issue?”
Mr Hague’s response was to confirm that it is ‘clear beyond doubt’ that the proposed changes to the treaty will only be for those member states in the Eurozone and so will not impact the UK, and that the UK is exempt from any changes that the treaty will make. He also reiterated the Conservative manifesto promise that a referendum would be granted for any treaty that handed over new powers to the EU and that as the UK will not be affected by these changes, there will be no referendum on this matter.
Mr Turner later commented:
“It is important that we scrutinise every new treaty and any changes to existing treaties. For too long the UK has been letting powers slip away from Parliament to Brussels, usually through the back door.
“The Conservative Party promised an end to this with a ‘referendum-lock’ on any new areas of power transferring to European Union. Under the Coalition Government it has been promised that the referendum would go ahead if this is proposed. Therefore we must make sure that the Government sticks to its word and does not allow changes to happen without the appropriate scrutiny.
“I am worried that whilst we are promised that these proposed changes will not affect the UK, it may be possible that somewhere down the line, these changes and similar ones made without full debates, scrutiny and votes by Parliament may result in more power being lost to Europe. That would not be acceptable.”
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