Conference Report: A Critical Assessment of the European Union Constitutional Treaty

The report summarises the presentations and discussions at the European Union ConstitutionalTreaty conference held at the Moot Hall in Colchester on 3 November 2004. The Conferencewas a public information event aimed at sixth formers and university students as well as thegeneral public. It was also an event to mark the 40th anniversary of the University of Essex. Thespeakers included Essex politicians drawn from local government, Westminster, and theEuropean Parliament, as well as academic experts, lawyers and journalists. The conference alsoheard from the Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The intention was to present a criticaland balanced assessment of the Constitutional Treaty and to contribute to the debate that mustnow begin in the UK, as a European Union member state, on whether to ratify the Constitution.The Constitution will first be considered in Parliament and thereafter the electorate will have theopportunity to vote on the Constitution in a referendum. The conference focussed on twotopics: the possible impact of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the roles of theEuropean Parliament and national Parliaments under the proposed Constitution. Inevitablymuch of the debate was concerned with the question as to whether the Constitutional Treatyshould be accepted by the British people at all.