London
Britons will vote in a referendum on whether to endorse the proposed European constitution, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced this week. “Let the people have the final say,” Blair said. “Let the battle be joined.” The move was a turnaround for Blair, who had long insisted that the new constitution would not change Britain’s status within the E.U. and therefore did not require voter endorsement. Opposition leaders have charged that the E.U. constitution could supersede British law and erode British sovereignty. The diplomats who drafted the constitution accused Blair of passing the buck. “This is an example of him wanting to hand this problem over to the public,” said former Irish prime minister John Bruton, “rather than take responsibility himself.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for December 12Cartoons Friday's political cartoons include presidential piracy, emissions capping, and the Argentina bailout
-
The Week Unwrapped: what’s scuppering Bulgaria’s Euro dream?Podcast Plus has Syria changed, a year on from its revolution? And why are humans (mostly) monogamous?
-
Will there be peace before Christmas in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Discussions over the weekend could see a unified set of proposals from EU, UK and US to present to Moscow
