§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the evidential basis was for the statement contained in a letter by Neil Sharp of his Office's European Union Department to the Democracy Movement that a constitution for Europe would not fundamentally change the relationship between the EU and its citizens, nor alter the position of the nation states as the fundamental basis of the European Union. [89128]
§ Mr. MacShane[holding answer 9 January 2003]The Praesidium of the European Convention issued its preliminary draft Constitutional Treaty on 28 October. This can be accessed through their website at: http:// european-convention.eu.int/. It contains, as does the current EC Treaty, provision for union citizenship additional to nationality of the member states (Article 5), and makes clear (in Article 1) that the member states are the fundamental basis of the union. The Government would not agree to any constitution which changed this.