'Brown's EU fraud exposed by letter'

telegraph.co.uk
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels

Last Updated: 2:38am BST 28/07/2007

Vote for a referendum on the EU Treaty The new European Union Treaty has been designed to "keep the advances" of the old constitution "that we would not have dared present directly", a senior Brussels figure has admitted. Hans-Gert Poettering (right) said the new treaty would preserve the old constitution Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European Parliament and a close ally of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made the admission in a letter to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the discarded EU Constitution. Mr Poettering stressed that the new treaty, while complicated, would preserve the constitution by a different, more indirect method. Responding to the claim, Mark Francois, the Conservatives' spokesman on Europe, said: "Hans-Gert Poettering has exposed the cynical fraud Gordon Brown is trying to foist on the British people. "All Mr Brown's talk about trust and consultation will be uncovered as pure spin if he does not keep his promise to give the British people the final say in a referendum." Adding to the criticism of the Government yesterday was a Labour MP who helped draw up the EU constitution, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters two years ago. Gisela Stuart, MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, told the Commons it was "extremely misleading" to suggest that the Treaty gave more power back to member states than the abadoned constitution. She added: "If we are so confident that it is good, we should have the confidence to ask the people."