Tories dismiss 'cosmetic' changes to draft.

Britain claimed last night to have won key arguments about the new EU constitution, as the Tories accused the government of eroding national sovereignty.
As the draft document was published yesterday, Peter Hain, the Welsh secretary - and Tony Blair's man on the European convention - hailed removal of the word "federal" from the published draft treaty text. But critics dismissed this as a cosmetic change that masked significant concessions.

"The important thing is that we got the term federal out," insisted Mr Hain. "That makes it crystal clear that the idea of a Brussels superstate is a myth, and we will have this new Europe which is a partnership of sovereign member states like Britain."

"It is not the words that matter. It is the meaning of the words", retorted the shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram, repeating the Conservatives' call for a referendum - which has been ruled out by Downing Street.

The government could face an uncomfortable ride today when other parts of the proposed treaty detail areas of policy where there is pressure to remove vetoes being defended by Mr Blair.

Mr Hain acknowledged there were "important battles still to fight", including those on cross-border social security measures, and on ensuring the proposed EU foreign minister "remains firmly under the control of governments" rather than that of the European commission.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the former French president and convention chairman, unveiled his proposals to furious criticism from Eurosceptics and integrationists alike.

Andrew Duff, the federalist British Liberal Democrat MEP, said: "It is crawling in our direction, but it is still crawling. Reaction in the convention will be extremely critical because it wants a more integrationist approach."

But Gisela Stuart, the Labour MP and only British representative on Mr Giscard's 13-member praesidium, or steering committee, responded: "People like Andrew Duff want to create a Euro government. So I am very pleased that he's unhappy about the draft."

Proposals for an EU diplomatic service - opposed by Britain - were deleted. Timothy Kirkhope, a Conservative MEP on the convention, ar gued that retaining UK control over taxation and defence had been won at the expense of other key areas.

"Britain will have to subscribe to a European asylum and immigration policy and the creation of a European public prosecutor," he said.

The government says it welcomes moves to boost EU-wide asylum policies but firmly opposes the idea of a cross-border prosecutor.

It was clear from the often convoluted text that after 15 months of hearings, and less than a month before the draft has to be submitted to the Salonika summit, divisions are still deep.

A contentious debate on whether to refer to Christian values and God - something the Vatican has been pushing - also remains unresolved.

Mr Giscard's spokesman, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, acknowledged that yesterday's draft was far from final. The idea of the constitution is to streamline and simplify EU institutions and procedures before the 10 new members join next May, bringing the total to 25.

Main innovations are plans to create an EU president and foreign minister and to incorporate a legally binding EU charter of fundamental rights - opposed by Mr Blair.

The president is meant to replace the current system of a six-month rotation of presidencies among member states, though most small countries and the commission oppose the plan.

Long and bruising negotiations are likely to be needed to finalise the text, to be presented by Mr Giscard in Salonika on June 20.

EU governments will then seek to agree on a final text by the end of the year, though it could take longer. Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister, is lobbying for a new treaty of Rome to echo the EEC's founding document in 1957.

The most extreme response, foreshadowed by a British tabloid offensive, came from the UK Independence Party, warning of "the end of the UK as a sovereign nation."

Critics may be on firmer ground over the call for an extension of qualified majority voting, though Britain will not be alone in opposing that.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003