Tory warning over EU votes

Lord Saatchi masterminded some of the most famous Tory adverts

Germany will be able to outvote the UK for the first time since British entry to the European Union under the current draft constitution, a leading Conservative peer has claimed.

Advertising guru Lord Saatchi is trying to raise public awareness of plans he believes bolster calls for a referendum on the new constitution.

Under proposals from the Convention on the Future of Europe, he says, Germany would get a larger share of the votes because of its bigger population when decisions are taken using the weighted voting system known as qualified majority voting.

The prime minister and foreign secretary have remained silent on this point Lord Saatchi

The UK Government says it wants to stick with a deal already agreed, which would give larger countries equal votes when 10 more nations join the EU.

But ministers are not ruling out other alternatives as they prepare to begin negotiations next month over the draft constitution.

Lord Saatchi has been working with Vote 2004, the cross-party campaign for a referendum on the new constitution.

And as a Tory Treasury spokesman, he attacked the government on the issue in the House of Lords on Tuesday.

'Decision for the people'

Ahead of the Lords debate, Lord Saatchi told BBC News Online: "To describe this change from a voting system based on equality to a system of inequality as a tidying up exercise seems to be totally wrong.

"The people of Britain may feel they can accept this change, but the prime minister and foreign secretary have remained silent on this point and if the decision is to be made then it should be a decision for the people of Britain in a referendum."

The government continues to resist the referendum calls, saying the new constitution will not fundamentally change the way the UK is governed.

When the UK joined the Common Market in 1973, it had the same voting rights as Germany, France and Italy over decisions not subject to national vetoes.

Under the Nice Treaty hammered out three years ago, the UK and other larger countries would have 29 votes out of a total of 345.

That agreement would require 258 votes from more than half of EU members to pass legislation - as long as they represent 62% of Europe's population - and 88 votes to block new laws.

Voting shake-up?

But the convention proposed a new system, with nations' voting rights based entirely on population size.

More than half of member states would have to support a proposal, as long as they represented at least 60% of the total EU population.

The government on Tuesday published its formal negotiating position for the inter-governmental conference on the convention's proposals.

On qualified majority voting, the white paper says: "The government remain content with the Nice system of voting.

"For all of its complications, it was the product of lengthy negotiations and agreed as part of a broader package.

"But we will consider any new proposals on its merits, looking for a balance between the ease with which legislation can be passed and blocked."

In the Commons, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Mr Straw said the UK would not accept qualified majority voting on areas like taxation, social security and defence.

The convention would extend qualified majority voting, but the British Government argues the UK can gain from that shift.