A European Constitution is being drafted. This may be news to some national newspapers, but the elected government ministers, national MPs and MEPs on the drafting convention have been meeting in public for the past year. They are not creating a "tyranny".

The constitution is needed because the EU is growing to include 25 nations and more. The decision-taking structure has got to be simplified and clarified. The constitution will spell out what decisions shall be taken at a European level, while strengthening the ability of national parliaments to intervene when this is not necessary.

Although the final draft has yet to be published, the changes are unlikely in themselves to be huge. The big difference is that the constitution will spell out the reality of the European Union.

The decisions to increase the things we do collectively have all been negotiated by successive British Governments and ratified by our parliament, yet there are many misconceptions about the extent of British involvement.

The truth is that a federal Europe of a kind already exists. We all have the same problems, we work together, and 60 per cent of new laws now have some European involvement.

We are not "told what to do by others", as I hear so often. British ministers help shape laws binding on Germany, France, Greece, and the rest. As a member of the European Parliament, elected by voters here in the North West of England, I do the same.

We work within the EU because the world is now dominated by international organisations which no one country can control. Multinational companies have tentacles everywhere. Financial speculators can destroy national currencies at the touch of a keyboard. Organised crime pays no more heed to national boundaries than does environmental pollution. This is not the result of some plot by foreigners, it's simply the reality. You don't get the chance to stop the world and get off.

I want us not only to work with our partners to improve life for people in Britain, but also to see us, through the EU, play a greater role on a world stage otherwise dominated by George W Bush. The Constitution should provide a structure which makes this a little more likely.

Chris Davies

Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West