BRITISH MANAGEMENT DATA FOUNDATION

There have been a number of reviews and comments on 'The Treaty of Nice in Perspective', including the following:

The Sunday Telegraph, 29 July 2001:

"Fruit of research: read the truth behind the Treaty"

"Anyone wondering why discussion of the European Union in this country seems so unreal might consider the way that Parliament is ratifying the latest handover of powers to the European Union in the Nice Treaty.

"Although this process still has to be completed when Parliament returns in the autumn from its 85-day holiday, the Treaty was approved by MPs in principle earlier this month, after a desultory second-reading debate which seemed mostly taken up by seven new arrivals making their maiden speeches.

"Yet at the time of this second reading, not a single MP could have read the Nice Treaty in context, because it consists only of a long list of disjointed amendments to former treaties.

"They can now do this thanks only to the tireless work of Brigadier Anthony Cowgill's British Management Data Foundation, which has just published its admirable two-volume 'The Treaty of Nice in Perspective', including the "Consolidated Treaty on European Union".

"To anyone wishing to study the nearest thing Britain now has to a written constitution, these two superbly assembled volumes are invaluable, not least their detailed analysis showing how each successive treaty has progressively extended the European Union's powers.

"Brigadier Cowgill first published a "consolidated" treaty back in 1992 when he discovered the Major government was happy to allow MPs to ratify the Maastricht Treaty without allowing them to see its contents in context. In the immortal words of Tristan Garel-Jones, [ the then Minister for Europe ] it would have been "improper" for the Government to publish the treaty in toto until it had been ratified: in other words, MPs should not be allowed to understand what they were voting for until they had agreed to it.

"Fortunately, Brigadier Cowgill and his son Andrew have once again met the "democratic deficit", by allowing the rest of us to know what we have been let in for."

The European Information Service

Issue 224, page 58

November 2001

"The European Union Treaties are now so complex, with so many layers of amendment upon amendment, that only the most expert of experts can find their way around them. But the publishers of these two volumes have struck a blow for transparency. They have managed to give us the latest updated text, highlighting the many amendments agreed in the Treaty of Nice. This treaty is to say the least somewhat messy, so it is of huge assistance to have its provisions clearly integrated into the current Treaties.

"This two-volume set is a companion to the earlier Treaty of Amsterdam in Perspective, an EU “bible” for the last few years, and which remains essential until Nice is ratified. In the meantime, the new set lets you see, almost at a glance, where and how the Nice provisions fit in.

"Volume One is called ‘Analysis’. Its main contents involve a tabular run through the Treaties, with the left-hand column summarising the original Treaty of Rome provisions on a subject, and other columns picking up changes from the Single European Act, Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice respectively. Thus you can see how a subject matter has developed over the years, and over the Treaties.

"Volume Two sets out the text of the two main Treaties, i.e. the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, with the Nice amendments in bold. All earlier amendments are integrated in the text. The volume includes a number of other key documents.

"This publication is strongly recommended to anyone who needs to ensure that they have accurate references to, or quotes from, the European Treaties."

Lord Willoughby de Broke

House of Lords debate on
the European Communities (Amendment) Bill

26 November 2001

Hansard, Column 79

"We have heard time and again how incomprehensible and obscure this treaty is. In that context, I was interested to see that even the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord McIntosh, was using not an official text - I do not believe that there is an official integrated text on the Treaty - but the very useful volume [ Volume Two ] produced by the British Management Data Foundation.

"Without that, I do not believe we should have been able to have a Committee stage or a sensible debate about the Treaty. Therefore, I believe that those responsible for that volume are due a vote of thanks from this House.

"There are two volumes, but I gather that the first was deemed to be too dangerous for general circulation because it analysed the Treaty.

"If Ministers and those inside Westminster must rely on an independent body to produce a comprehensible version of the Treaty of Nice, I believe that further clarification should be given so that people outside Westminster can understand it."

Agence Europe

Bulletin Quotidien Europe 8148 - 11-12/2/2002

European Library: N° 485

"In the tradition of its previous publications on the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties, the British Management Foundation provides a detailed and comparative analysis, as well as a comprehensive study of the new Treaty of Nice.

"One of the strengths in this book is the detailed synopses it provides of the themes it takes up in its articles on the Treaty of Rome, the Single Act, the Maastricht Treaty, Treaty of Amsterdam and the Treaty of Nice, in five columns.

"The general index and other documents such as, the Nice European Social Agenda, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Parliament Resolution on Nice help to complete this very useful book.

"These two volumes constitute a useful reference guide for all those who work in Community legal affairs and those who wish to trace the evolution of primary Community law and the European institutions since the Treaty of Rome up to the Treaty of Nice, in a way that is both easy and efficient."

Other reviews and comments on ' The Treaty of Nice in Perspective' will appear here.