APPENDIX 14
Memorandum from Professor Trevor C Hartley,
Professor of Law Emeritus, London School of Economics
Thank you for your letter of 21 December inviting
me to answer some questions on the draft Constitution for Europe.
It is not possible for me to deal with all of them; so I will
confine myself to the one question that concerns my written evidence.
This is Question 14. (Questions 12 and 13 are framed as if they
referred to my written evidence, but in fact I did not discuss
the matters raised. They must have been intended for another witness.)
In Question 14 you ask to what extent I think
re-negotiation would be necessary and to what extent it might
be "business as usual". As I explained, from a strictly
legal point of view, the draft Constitution would fail if rejected
by a single Member State: the existing treaties would then continue
to operate as before. However, from a political point of view,
things might be different. If only one Member State rejected it,
there might be pressure on that State to fall into line. If that
pressure were resisted, that State might be asked to agree to
some special deal. It would not be obliged to enter into negotiations,
but it might be under pressure to do so. It might also want to
do so, since it might want to redefine its relationship to Europe.
However, these are all political matters. The legal position is
as I have explained it.
I hope this is helpful.
17 January 2005
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