§ Mr. SpringTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many amendments were tabled by the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) at the Convention on the Future of Europe; and how many were agreed to. [129131]
§ Mr. MacShaneWe estimate that, excluding the reiterations of amendments tabled more than once, the UK delegation submitted 154 amendments. Many of these were technical or legal drafting amendments. Even when not accepting amendments verbatim, the Convention frequently agreed on language which met our underlying concerns in whole or in part.
For that reason, it is not possible to put a precise figure on the number of UK proposals that were agreed to. The Convention's final draft text met the majority of the UK's objectives. As the Thessaloniki Council agreed it is 'a good starting point' for the discussions between 25 European nation states which will agree the next EU constitutional treaty.