Not exactly a surprise:

Gordon brown will have "problems" denying voters a
referendum on the new European Union treaty, the architect of the old
constitution has confessed.

Valéry Giscard
d’Estaing yesterday admitted that differences between the new treaty
and the constitution, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters two
years ago, "are few and far between and more cosmetic than real".

This is even less of a surprise:

Jean-Luc Dehaene, the former prime minister of
Belgium who is now a senior MEP, noted that 95 per cent of the
constitution was back. He said it was no surprise that voters were
confused.

"We drafted a treaty with a
constitutional content and form. Now we have a treaty with a
constitutional content without the form. But both are a treaty and
neither is a constitution. The ambiguous use of words has led to
misunderstandings," he said.

Mr Dehaene also
insists the issue is not one for the voters, whether they are British,
French or Dutch. "Europe will never go forward by referendum," he said.
"Leading is showing the way, not following."

But it also rather begs the question. At this point we’re not in fact pondering which direction our leaders should take us: rather, we’re wondering whether our leaders should include a fat Belgian or not: something we should indeed have a vote on.