Francois hails "remarkable verdict" on Lisbon Treaty

The German Constitutional Court has suspended ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, in what Mark Francois has described as a “warning shot” to Gordon Brown.

Mark, the Shadow Europe Minister, described it as a “remarkable verdict” and said the Court had echoed a number of the key problems with the Treaty highlighted by the Conservatives.

“The German Constitutional Court has rightly fired a warning shot on the profound effects the renamed EU Constitution would have on European democracies.”

Mark stressed the Court had "explicitly confirmed" that the Lisbon Treaty does transfer yet more powers to the EU.

And he said the verdict was “yet more proof of the case for the British people having their say in the referendum they were promised”:

“It is completely unjustifiable for Gordon Brown to have forced through such an important treaty with such weak democratic safeguards without their consent.”