The draft of the European Union’s Constitution, which was shelved after it failed to be approved in 2005, seems to have been given new life—a turn of events that some are calling “secret plans for an EU superstate.”

Rather than EU leaders having to agree on a full new Constitution and then having to turn the decision over to the citizens of each member state, a new version of the document is being slimmed down and renamed an “amending treaty.” Approval of this document would be needed only from the leaders of the member states—not through a referendum vote in every EU nation.

Many points in the new treaty derive from the same constitution that was rejected by both France and the Netherlands during the 2005 referendum vote.

This decision to sneak the constitution “through the back door” is provoking derision in certain circles throughout Europe—particularly in Britain, which sees the move as giving the EU the ability to take away British rights without Britons having a say in the matter.

However, as the exact terms for the treaty are being set, provisions have been made promising not to encroach upon British law.

The European Parliament Press Agency stated that the majority of EU leaders feel “the core of the constitution must be reflected in the new treaty.”

In spite of the risk of eliciting calls for a referendum vote, it appears many of the more “radical” proposals will make it into the new document—moving toward European Union control of the whole of Europe without the unanimous consent of the populace it governs.