European Union (Amendment) Bill

The treaty is different in legal consequence, legal substance and legal structure. Across Europe, nine countries—nine separate sovereign countries—had committed to a referendum on the old constitution. There are no longer nine, but one; only our good friends in the Republic of Ireland, who are bound by their domestic constitutional arrangements to hold a referendum, currently plan to hold one. Eight separate Governments, in eight separate countries, of different political persuasions, have come to the independent conclusion that the old constitution has been abandoned. There will be no European constitution.