Gordon Brown will warn Britain's European Union partners that he will not agree to any further "navel-gazing" internal reforms once the 27-nation bloc has approved a new governing treaty. In Lisbon today, at his first EU summit since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Brown will tell his counterparts to end their long debate about EU institutions and start addressing issues such as job creation and climate change which matter to ordinary people. Mr Brown will sign up to the new treaty tonight, which will streamline the EU's decision-making procedures, provided that Britain's much-vaunted "red lines" are preserved. These are designed to safeguard Britain's right to decide its own social and labour laws; common law, police and judicial processes; foreign and defence policies and tax and social security systems. One minister said: "We will draw a line in the sand and say 'thus far, no further'. The treaty is needed but the EU will never win the support of its citizens if it embarks on yet another round of institutional reform."
Gordon Brown will warn Britain's European Union partners that he will not agree to any further "navel-gazing" internal reforms once the 27-nation bloc has approved a new governing treaty.
In Lisbon today, at his first EU summit since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Brown will tell his counterparts to end their long debate about EU institutions and start addressing issues such as job creation and climate change which matter to ordinary people.
Mr Brown will sign up to the new treaty tonight, which will streamline the EU's decision-making procedures, provided that Britain's much-vaunted "red lines" are preserved. These are designed to safeguard Britain's right to decide its own social and labour laws; common law, police and judicial processes; foreign and defence policies and tax and social security systems.
One minister said: "We will draw a line in the sand and say 'thus far, no further'. The treaty is needed but the EU will never win the support of its citizens if it embarks on yet another round of institutional reform."
An overwhelming majority of people in the European Union's five biggest member states want the bloc's treaty on institutional reform to be submitted to national referendums, according to an opinion poll published on Thursday.The FT/Harris poll will keep Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, on the defensive by strengthening the determination of his political opponents to secure a referendum on the treaty, which is due to be approved at an EU summit in Lisbon starting on Thursday.ADVERTISEMENTThe poll is likely to unsettle political leaders in other EU capitals who oppose holding referendums for fear of a repeat of the French and Dutch votes of 2005 that wrecked the EU's ill-fated constitutional treaty.The new document, known as the reform treaty, resembles the old in that it reshapes the EU's institutions, changes its voting procedures, expands the role of the European parliament and national legislatures, and includes a charter of fundamental rights.
An overwhelming majority of people in the European Union's five biggest member states want the bloc's treaty on institutional reform to be submitted to national referendums, according to an opinion poll published on Thursday.
The FT/Harris poll will keep Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, on the defensive by strengthening the determination of his political opponents to secure a referendum on the treaty, which is due to be approved at an EU summit in Lisbon starting on Thursday.
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The poll is likely to unsettle political leaders in other EU capitals who oppose holding referendums for fear of a repeat of the French and Dutch votes of 2005 that wrecked the EU's ill-fated constitutional treaty.
The new document, known as the reform treaty, resembles the old in that it reshapes the EU's institutions, changes its voting procedures, expands the role of the European parliament and national legislatures, and includes a charter of fundamental rights.
