THE Prime Minister is being advised to sign up to a controversial charter setting out a series of fundamental, economic, social, and human rights for Europe's citizens.
Lord Goldsmith, Mr Blair's personal representative on the drafting committee that painstakingly negotiated the 54-article text, made it clear in Brussels yesterday that he was satisfied with the draft charter.
''The final text is for governments to consider, but I believe today's text does show the key changes we secured last week, and I will warmly commend the draft to the Prime Minister.
''It is a good result for Great Britain. It protects national British law, in particular in critical areas, and provides consistency with the European Convention on Human Rights,'' he said.
Over the past nine months, he has succeeded in heading off attempts by France, Germany, and others to make the text legally binding and enforceable by the courts.
When EU leaders come to approve the charter in Nice shortly before Christmas, after first examining it in Biarritz next week, they are certain to agree that it should be a political declaration giving a higher visibility in one document to the various existing rights which citizens can expect the EU to uphold.
One EU diplomat explained: ''This is about what Brussels can and can't do.It is addressed to the European institutions.
''Member states are constrained by the European Convention on Human Rights and national constitutions.
''Up till now, Brussels has had no statement on where it is restricted.''
Coincidentally, agreement on the draft came on the same day as the entry into force in the UK of the Human Rights Act, which incorporates the 50-year old European human rights convention into Scottish and English law.
Conservatives and other critics have warned that the charter is the first step on the road to a European constitution and will force unfamiliar continental constraints and practices on the British way of life.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article