LONDON (AFP) — The government called Friday for the European Union to "move on" to real reform after agreeing a new treaty, but eurosceptics threatened to keep the wrangling going with fresh demands for a referendum.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has long trumpeted the need for free-market reforms in Europe, says the bloc must focus on jobs, growth and environmental protection after ending two years of institutional "navel gazing."
"It is now time for Europe to move on and devote all our effort to the issues that matter to the peoples of Europe," he said shortly after the EU treaty was agreed in the early hours after late-night talks.
But eurosceptics immediately renewed calls for a plebiscite on the new treaty, which replaces an aborted constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
"This is, once again, Gordon Brown and his government treating the British people like fools," said opposition Conservative leader David Cameron, whose party is on a roll after a disastrous couple of weeks for the British premier.
Brown says a referendum is not needed because the new pact is fundamentally different from the constitution, as well as trumpeting the "red lines" on foreign policy, labour rights, common law and tax and social security.
But Tories say his motives are more basic: it is widely assumed that a British referendum would reject the EU treaty, especially with the help of a popular press which has long campaigned against a "European superstate."
And they are determined to keep Brown on the back foot following his worst couple of weeks in office since he succeeded Tony Blair in June.
After a well-received three months which saw him tackle crises including terror threats, foot and mouth and floods, he was widely ridiculed for cancelling plans for a snap election at the last minute earlier this month.
British eurosceptics used the Lisbon summit to highlight their call for a plebiscite, setting up a giant inflatable ballot box not far from the summit venue with the message "I want a referendum."
But Foreign Secretary David Miliband again dismissed the calls Friday, as EU leaders held a second day of talks in the Portuguese capital.
"The constitution is dead. Last night marked the end of the constitution," he told BBC radio.
"The myths about this treaty that have been propagated -- that it will mean the end of our seat on the UN Security Council, that we're no longer going to have the Queen's name inside our passports, that it is the end of Britain -- are just myths."
Britain has long been one of Europe's most eurosceptic countries, and opinion polls indicate that a majority of Britons want a referendum on the new EU treaty.
"It is over 30 years since the British people were asked," said Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party, noting that the last referendum was in 1975 when the European bloc's ambitions were limited to "free trade and friendship."
Assuming Brown resists pressure for a referendum, his government will have to ratify the new treaty in parliament next year.
In theory this should be straightforward, given that his ruling Labour party has a 60-plus seat majority in parliament. But a significant number of Labour lawmakers have joined calls for a referendum.
Britain has been there before: in 1993 the Maastricht Treaty only squeezed through parliament in London after a battle of wills which almost brought down the government of then premier John Major.
EU governments are to formally sign the treaty in December, leaving a year for all member states to ratify it individually so that it can come into effect, as planned, on January 1, 2009.
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