Britain and Germany are locked in a high-stakes tug-of-love over Nicolas Sarkozy, the new French President, amid clashing visions of Europe’s future.

London is becoming increasingly isolated in the European Union over its efforts to limit the scope of the revived EU constitution.

British ambassadors laid out more fundamental objections to plans for the new treaty than any other EU country present at private talks in Berlin this week, The Times has learnt.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, emphasised that Britain was in a small minority: 22 of the 27 EU nations have agreed to preserve most of the substance of the failed constitution, she said. The burden was on Britain and the others to make their case. Mrs Merkel welcomed Mr Sarkozy to Berlin last night hours after his inauguration, and the pair immediately got down to discussing the new treaty.

Mr Sarkozy, referring to the defeat of the constitution by French and Dutch referendums in 2005, said: “The first emergency is to get the European Union out of its current paralysis. For that it is necessary that Germany, which today holds the EU presidency, and France, which has always been its privileged partner in Europe, see eye to eye on this.”

Mrs Merkel’s dinner with Mr Sarkozy was, therefore, more than a symbolic act in honour of the Franco-German alliance. As current EU president she was sounding out Mr Sarkozy on how far he would support her vision of an EU with new legal powers, a binding Charter of Fundamental Rights, a collective foreign policy and a further curtailing of national vetoes.

The objections of the five EU sceptics – Britain, Poland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Denmark – are complicated in that they have different priorities. And the smaller ones are slowly being won round to the new-look treaty by the canny Mrs Merkel.

Mrs Merkel has advanced so swiftly on the European constitution because of her cultivation of smaller states, building consensus through very thorough and often flattering bilateral talks, a technique she learned from her mentor Helmut Kohl. Mr Kohl had one of the more successful Franco-German partnerships with François Mitterrand but always tried to create a bond of loyalty between small EU members and the German Government.

Merkel aides now clearly believe that Britain has become the main obstacle to achieving a constitutional treaty.

Britain, however, remains hopeful that it can win backing from Mr Sarkozy on some of its main concerns. Gordon Brown, the likely future Prime Minister, will be looking for strong support from the French President during the detailed negotiations – both hoping that any new treaty is slimline enough to allow them to avoid putting it to a referendum.

Britain wants the removal of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, a legal declaration that formed a large part of the constitution and hands extra powers to workers.

Although Mrs Merkel and many other leaders are determined to keep a reference to the charter, Mr Sarkozy is not so keen and could help to make Britain’s case that it must be jettisoned or simply included as a declaration rather than a legal entity.

Britain also objects to a clause from the constitution stating the primacy of EU law over national law, which has been common practice since 1972 but has never been enshrined in a treaty. Again, while many EU states want this to be confirmed, Mr Sarkozy could argue for its removal to help Britain in the push to clinch a deal.

Mr Sarkozy is less likely to come to Britain’s assistance in its attempt to avoid an extension of qualified majority voting to domestic justice and home affairs matters.

A reduction in British voting powers would certainly lead to demands for a referendum, and Downing Street insisted yesterday that there was no question of giving up the national veto.

There were suggestions yesterday that Britain could be offered an opt-out from justice and home affairs policies passed by qualified majority voting, just as it has an opt-out on immigration – or even that the extension of such voting could be contained in a second treaty to follow after the next British general election.

A European Commission source denied that twin treaties were under active consideration but confirmed that legal work was under way in case this became a fall-back option.

Another of Britain’s “red lines” that it will not cross is the creation of a “legal personality” for the EU – which would confer treaty-signing powers on Brussels. Again, this is something backed strongly by Mrs Merkel that Mr Sarkozy could urge is dropped to help to push through a deal.

If a new treaty is agreed by EU leaders as planned in December, Mr Brown may also come under pressure from the example of two countries that are likely to hold referendums: Ireland and Denmark. Both are obliged by domestic law to hold public votes on treaties that affect their constitutions.

Failed treaty

18 countries ratified the 2005 constitution

2 countries rejected it in referendums: France and the Netherlands

7 countries did not make a decision either way, five of them, including Britain, postponing planned referendums after the French and Dutch rejection

Source: Times archives

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