Romano Prodi, the president of the EU Commission, said the holding of a referendum in each EU member country on the proposed EU Constitution was 'a fantastic idea'. Tony Blair has ruled out holding a popular vote on the document saying that it is not of political significance. Peter Hain, one of Britain's three representatives on the convention that drafted the Constitution, famously said that it was merely a 'tidying up exercise'.

Professor Prodi contradicted this on numerous occasions in his lecture to the European Institute of the London School of Economics on Monday 19th January. He said that the ratification of the Constitution was 'a huge priority' for the EU to be able to function with the enlargement of the Union to 25 countries. The Union needed 'fundamental institutional change' if it was also to become the 'regional leader' and a 'global player'. The EU was 'not an economic but a political project'. The Constitution was designed to achieve this, he said. The Constitution was a 'very significant development' in the history of our continent. Professor Prodi was confident that the Irish presidency of the EU would establish the conditions whereby the succeeding Dutch presidency would be able to reach agreement between all the member states on the document.

Following his speech the Commission president took questions from the 1,000-strong audience and was asked by law student and Democracy Movement member John Mehrzad if he agreed that it was important that the Constitution had the democratic acceptance of the peoples of Europe and that the gap between the citizens and the political elite should be closed. Did he therefore accept that there must be a referendum before it was passed into law?

Professor Prodi said he 'strongly supported' a referendum in all member states, it was 'a fantastic idea.'

Professor Prodi refused however to answer a question concerning whether he agreed that it was right of an Italian court to remove Silvio Berlusconi's immunity from criminal prosecution and, if he did, would the EU president also support taking away the legal immunities of EU commissioners. Prodi has himself faced many allegations relating to corruption during his public life.

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Click here to go to the Democracy Movement main site and read the full report of the event.

For more information, contact Marc Glendening or Stuart Coster on 020 7491 3072 or by e-mail.

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