The Green Party wants the UK to play a full part in a fundamentally reformed European Union.

So we are concerned not merely with the constitution but the re-constitution of Europe. We want the EU to be a union aimed at promoting democracy, subsidiarity, social justice and ecological sustainability.

We are in favour of an EU constitutional treaty – but not the one currently proposed. While it has some good points it also enshrines what is worst about the EU. It would also make it harder to bring about positive changes in the EU in future.

The proposed constitution prioritises and enshrines a commitment to neoliberal economics and thus to policies including the single market, trade liberalisation and a commitment to the euro. The proposed constitution would therefore:

1. Exacerbate the adverse effects of economic globalisation, particularly growing levels of inequality within and between countries..
2. Work against the creation of sustainable local and regional economies.
3. Damage public services by imposing spending cuts and privatisation.
4. Undermine local standards aimed at protecting the environment, natural resources, and people's living and working conditions. Eg the proposed commitment to price stability would be a barrier to the introduction of measures intended to reflect the true costs of fossil-fuel-intensive transport.

The proposed constitution would also lead to increased military expenditure, would promote an expanded EU arms industry, and would help turn the EU into a military superpower. This is not the way to promote peace and stability.

Europe is a complex issue. We must acknowledge this, and stop seeing the issue in black-and-white terms – it really isn’t a choice between Labour-LibDem centralisation on the one hand, and the xenophobia of the right-wing parties on the other. The Green Party offers a progressive choice for a more democratic, fair and sustainable Europe – and we believe the majority of British people are closer to our view of Europe than to that of parties ranging from Labour to the BNP.

We believe we are offering not only the best but also the most popular choice of policy on the EU for the next general and European elections and the forthcoming referenda on the EU constitution and the euro. We commend our vision for Europe to the British public.

The Green Party recognises "the value of the original goal of the founders of the European Communities, who sought to remove the threat of another war between European states. This has been distorted by vested political and economic interests into a European Union dominated by economic interests, which lacks democratic control, and promotes the goals of multinational corporations, not of people." [MfSS EU101]

The Green Party is committed to fundamental reform of the EU on Green lines. We share the objectives, stated by the EU summit at Laeken which launched the constitutional treaty project, that it should improve the quality of life of all in Europe and bring the EU closer to citizens.

The Green Party supports the idea of "an international European treaty to set out the competencies, powers and structures" of the EU - a constitutional treaty. To adopt such a fundamental treaty should require the agreement of the people in each member country, expressed by a majority of those voting in a referendum. [MfSS EU351-3]

We believe that such a constitutional treaty should be a relatively short, straightforward document, as envisaged by the EU summit in Laeken. The present EU proposal goes into far too much detail, including policies which have no place in a constitution. The huge Section III of the constitution set out inof the proposed treaty would set in stone policies which are now or may become unsuited to the circumstances and development of the EU. It would prove a major obstacle to necessary reform.

The Green Party welcomes the inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EU constitution proposed in this treaty, which should improve the application of such human rights in EU institutions. We regret that provisions in the proposal restrict the application of rights in member countries, and that the Charter will not have effect there except where introduced by specific legislation.

But the Green Party is concerned that key provisions in the proposed constitution, and assumptions underlying its content, would preclude the introduction of some Green policies. To open the way for progressive change would require laborious amendment of the constitution on each occasion. We are particularly concerned about economics and peace, but specific problems also include the missed opportunity to abolish the anti-democratic institutional commitment to nuclear power which has disfigured European policies since their inception. The proposed constitution fails to end the EU's Euratom Treaty commitment to the development of nuclear power. That treaty is not to be included in the proposed constitution, but is still there as a protocol.

The proposed constitution prioritises and sets in stone a commitment to policies based on neoliberal economics and globalisation. These policies include the extension and domination of thesingle market model, trade liberalisation, the centrality of money rather than resources, and a commitment to monetarist economics and the eurothe withdrawal of states from economic policy-making in the face of corporate pressure. Such policies work against the creation of sustainable local and regional economies, damage public services through imposed spending cuts and privatisation, and undermine local standards to protect the environment, natural resources, and people's living and working conditions.

Neither the theory of neoliberal economics, nor globalisation (its practical incarnation), are reconcilable with the Green vision of a Europe committed to social justice and an ecologically sustainable future.

The proposed constitution would increase yet further the development of the EU as a military power. The proposal envisages the EU as a European NATO, with its own army, the Rapid Reaction Force, and its own command and intelligence structure. That would lead to increased military expenditure to provide those. It would promote an expanded EU arms industry. The Green Party rejects the creation of a European military power.

The Green Party calls not for collective security arrangements which can spread and promote war, but for common security leading to peace for all. Our policies oppose militarisation of the EU, and oppose its Common Foreign, Security and Defence Policies which the constitution proposed in this treaty would set in stone as the basis of that. We prefer the alternative potential to develop peacekeeping and civil assistance.

The proposed arrangements for developing the ways in which the EU works are a mixed bag, and less than satisfactory. While we welcome the extension of the European Parliament's role through co-decision on issues decided by qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers, the provisions for protecting the rights of member countries are inadequate. As one example, it is unjust and simply wrong that the EU Commission should be judge and jury in its own cause in questions of subsidiarity, a Green principle.

The Green Party, while supporting the idea of a written constitution for the EU, believes that the current draft has a long way to go before it is acceptable. As it stands, it would not be a step forward to a Green Europe, but an increased obstacle to that.

Caroline Lucas MEP & Mike Woodin, 2000 The Euro or a Sustainable Future for Britain?

Molly Scott Cato, 2003, The Five Economic Tests: Submission to the Treasury Select Committee

Caroline Lucas MEP & Mike Woodin, 2004 Green Alternatives to Globalisation - A Manifesto (Pluto Press, London)