Letter

As business leaders committed to the UK’s relationship with the EU, we favour the signature and subsequent ratification of the draft European Reform Treaty on the basis of the current text. The measures contained in the Treaty aimed at institutional reform are in the UK’s and the EU’s interests. Any large business or organization which increased its membership so rapidly, as the EU has done in recent years, would require internal reform. In recent years the enlarged EU has become the biggest market in the world, and the EU has been moving in a more business-friendly reformist direction.
 
The provisions in the Treaty enable an EU off 27 member states to work more effectively. By introducing measures such as ending the rotating Presidency, streamlining the Commission and rebalancing the votes in the Council, the EU will function in a more efficient and more effective way. As a result of the Reform Treaty, the UK’s share of voting in the Council increases by 45%.
 
The Treaty accommodates British sensitivities, with effective opt-outs on the Charter of Fundamental Rights and JHA measures, which have been strengthened from the text of the Constitutional Treaty. The business community has a lot to gain from a strong single market of 500 million people, with more effective institutions to police and enforce its rules.
 
As business has become more global, so too many of the issues facing us today are increasingly cross-border. This means that the EU’s role as a collection of sovereign states joining together to meet common challenges is ever more crucial. As the UK’s largest trading partner, and the forum through which we can help address issues like climate change, energy security and the rise of China and India, the EU is crucial to the UK’s long-term interests. The passage of the Reform Treaty will give the EU better tools and machinery. More importantly it will allow the EU to draw a line under its long-running institutional debate and focus on policy delivery as it enters its second half century.
 
(signed in a personal capacity)
 
Lord Brittan of Spennithorne
Roger Carr (Chairman, Centrica)
Guy Dawson (Founding Partner, Tricorn Partners)
Paul Marshall (Chairman, Marshall Wace Asset)
Vijay Patel (CEO, Waymade Healthcare)
Stuart Popham (Senior Partner, Clifford Chance)
Roland Rudd (Chairman, Business for New Europe)
Bill Thomas (President - Europe, Middle East & Africa, EDS)
Rosemary Thorne (Non-Executive Director, Abbey National)
Lord Tugendhat