Nations who block change may be banished from EU

A country could be ejected from the European Union if it failed to ratify a proposed constitution for Europe, under plans launched today by the European Commission's president, Romano Prodi.

According to a document obtained by The Independent, any EU nation that tries to block the constitution could be thrown out of the Union if it is in a clear minority. Officials are concerned that, with the EU enlarging to 25 member states, a single country could block the entire constitution, in the same way as Ireland almost halted the Nice Treaty.

No sovereign nation has ever left the EU, voluntarily or otherwise, although Greenland, a sparsely populated Danish dependency, negotiated its withdrawal 16 years ago.

But the forward to the Prodi text states that "each member state could choose between continued participation in the Union, now based on a constitution, and withdrawal from the Union to take on the status of associated country". That could happen if at least five-sixths of the members backed the constitution.

Mr Prodi's blueprint, drafted amid secrecy, also calls for an end to national vetoes on all issues except that of admitting new member states. It proposes majority voting by EU governments on foreign policy, the election of the Commission's president by MEPs, an increase in the powers of the Commission on foreign policy and for the EU to adopt a Nato-like mutual defence guarantee for its members.

The draft treaty would also incorporate a charter of fundamental rights into law, and specifically rules out Tony Blair's ideas for a new president of the EU, drawn from current or past EU leaders.

Mr Prodi's text will be submitted to an inquiry into the future of the EU headed by the former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, whose job is to prepare a draft constitution. That will have to be approved by the leaders of all 15 EU member states, each of whom has a veto. But senior figures involved in the drafting of the convention are known to be sympathetic to Mr Prodi's ideas, which means national governments might come under pressure to accept the change.

Last night, British officials argued privately that the Commission was putting forward a "negotiating position" and had "bid too high". One said: "Some of these ideas will be dead on arrival." The British Government does not like the idea of nations being evicted.

Mr Prodi's blueprint argues that any ejected country would – after a two-year grace period – have to renegotiate its relationship with the EU, although it might be able to have access to the single market, as is the case for Norway.

Mr Blair is unlikely to accept many ideas put forward by Mr Prodi, including a plan to name the most senior chamber of the European Court of Justice the "Supreme Court", or the election of the Commission president by MEPs. Another controversial idea is to create a new foreign policy supremo, who would work inside the European Commission.

The draft was drawn up with advice from EU lawyers who have drafted earlier treaties, and was codenamed Operation Penelope to guard its secrecy. Its preamble repeats current treaty language calling for an "ever closer union between the peoples of a continent that has been divided too long" and outlining the ambition to create a "European model of society" and a "Europe whose vocation is to exercise the responsibilities of a world power".