EU's Amsterdam treaty of last June the result will be closer to 50-50.

ECONOMIST: They think their welfare state has fallen into a mess

So far, however, under the Amsterdam treaty of 1997, each member can veto any move by a self-selected group seeking to undertake special projects.

ECONOMIST: What kind of Europe?

The Britons and Danes will be allowed to opt out of the Amsterdam treaty's plan for common immigration and asylum policies.

ECONOMIST: Euro-apartheid?

Mr Hague has said he will impose a three-line whip requiring Tories to vote against ratification of the European Union's Amsterdam treaty, which Tony Blair signed last June.

ECONOMIST: The Tory party

Majority voting may be extended in the revision of the Maastricht treaty supposed to be agreed on at the Amsterdam summit in June, but hostility from Britain and others will stop it going at all far.

ECONOMIST: Europe's Council of Ministers: Doing the splits | The

The treaty is meant to be agreed on by the summit of heads of government in Amsterdam in mid-June.

ECONOMIST: Europe's mid-life crisis

The Amsterdam summit in 1997 introduced Mr Blair to the niceties of EU treaty-making, and was followed soon afterwards by the ghastly four-night negotiation of the Nice treaty in 2000.

ECONOMIST: Britain and Europe

Another reason was that, thanks to a Supreme Court judgment that led to the setting up of a referendum commission, the same amount of money had to be spent arguing both for and against the Amsterdam treaty.

ECONOMIST: Ireland