§ 20. Mr. Cameron:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a)EU member states and (b)applicant states plan to hold a referendum on the proposed European constitution; and if he will make a statement. [132017]
§ Mr. MacShane:A new EU treaty would need to be ratified according to the individual political and constitutional traditions of each of the member states. Current and future member states would be in exactly the same position: all 25 would have to ratify before a new treaty could come into effect. Four member states have formally declared that they will hold a referendum on the outcome of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC): Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain. Most countries have yet to make a decision. In the UK, EU treaties are only ratified after scrutiny and approval by Parliament, as has been the case with all previous treaties modifying the founding treaties of the EU.