Roland Rudd, Chairman of Business for New Europe, a lobby group supporting the UK's active engagement in a free-market EU.

BBC Online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7139265.stm

The treaty is a logical response to the expansion of the European Union designed to make an EU of 27 countries work more effectively.

We should remember that Britain was and is in the forefront of supporting enlargement, which has transformed the countries of Eastern and Central Europe and brought enormous benefits to established member states and the EU as a whole.

These enlargements have fundamentally altered the shape, nature and direction of the European Union.
The reform of the EU's institutions, such as ending the rotating presidency and a fairer voting system in the European Council, are very positive steps.

The UK will have a greater share of the vote in the Council.

As with previous treaties, the Reform Treaty has moved some areas to majority voting (QMV), and in this case such moves are aligned with UK policy priorities such as energy and development.

Even Margaret Thatcher, who could never be described as an arch Europhile signed the Single European Act, which involved moves to QMV.

The business community is sanguine about these reforms.

It understands that the structural changes are necessary in a growing organisation and that cross-border challenges such as climate change are most usefully addressed in international fora like the EU.

Talk of a superstate is hyperbolic nonsense.

Despite the so-called EU monster, the Queen still sits on the throne, we still set our own taxes and interest rates and retain the ability to declare war and follow our own foreign policy.

The important thing about the EU is that there is a great opportunity, with the mood and current crop of European leaders, for the treaty to be complemented by a programme of reform.

It must not be missed.