Hhhm, things seem to be working our as EU Referendum said they would:

The incoming Portuguese EU presidency, which takes
over the six-month rotating job from Germany this weekend, has made it
clear that the new British Prime Minister is bound by the mandate
agreed by Mr Blair last week.

Portugal wants a
quick treaty finish and will hold Mr Brown to the 15-page text, backed
up by as yet unpublished legal documents signed by Mr Blair and
regarded as binding for his successor.

"We do have
a clear, precise and detailed mandate handed down to us. We believe
that the conditions and guidelines are set out to us in that mandate,"
said Portugal’s Europe Minister, Manuel Lobo Antunes, yesterday. "We
will be sticking strictly to the terms we have been given."

At the coming IGC, instead of negotiating as the sovereign governments they are, they can only negotiate inside the formulas agreed last weekend.

Which is a slightly odd way of asking said sovereign governments to act really.

Can we leave yet?