As the European Union's Intergovernmental Conference begins meeting today in Brussels to draft the EU Reform Treaty, some British members of parliament are demanding changes. They say the treaty's current wording puts national parliaments, including the British parliament, under the control of the European Union. Read about it here.

The MPs are alarmed about one line in the treaty, which says, "National parliaments shall contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union." They fear this line would force the national parliaments to put their own interests--and independence--behind those of the European Union.

The U.K. Telegraph is also concerned and has launched an online petition demanding that the British government hold a referendum on the treaty.

The MPs plan to fight for a change in wording, though Brussels has made it clear that negotiations aren't welcome during the conference since all the main points of the treaty--including precise language to be used in the final text--were already approved by the 27 EU member states during the European Council, June 21-22. The purpose of the Intergovernmental Conference is simply to approve final text, according to Brussels. Read the EU's description of the conference here.

But even if Britain succeeds in getting the objectionable line removed from the treaty, the European Union will still gain much more power over its member states, according to critics. They especially fear the treaty's creation of a powerful foreign minister post, who will speak on behalf of Britain and France to the UN Security Council when the EU has a united stance on an issue. Read about it here.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the original EU constitution--which was shot down by EU member states--has mockingly stated that the new EU treaty and old EU constitution are the same document, with the only exception being renaming the foreign minister post from "Union Minister of Foreign Affairs" to the "High Representative for Common Foreign and Security."

The goal of the Intergovernmental Conference is to complete the text of the treaty by October, so the 27 EU member states can ratify it before the European Parliament election in June 2009. Every member state has to approve the final text of the treaty.

With the resistance from British MPs, it remains to be seen if the present treaty will receive unanimous approval. But past Intergovernmental Conferences have achieved consensus on a number of treaties for EU enlargement, including the 1986 Single European Act (which created a single European market), the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht (which made the WEU 10 member states the military wing of the EU), and the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam (which created the powerful office of High Representative for the Common Foreign Security Policy that Javier Solana currently holds, and also put the WEU military under Solana).

Students of Bible prophecy should stayed tuned to this Intergovernmental Conference. Its outcomes could very well be the first EU constitution (under a different name) and an extremely powerful new foreign minister post (under a different name) -- both significant to the role of the Revived Roman Empire in end-time prophecy.