Blair sets out reforming EU vision, urges end to feuding
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-24 18:52

Prime Minister Tony Blair called for an end to Europe's bitter wrangling over its future as he outlined his vision for Britain's upcoming EU presidency and appealed for far-reaching reforms.

In a keynote address to the European parliament in Brussels, Blair warned that Europe risked being left behind by emerging Asian economies if it failed to push through free-market reforms.

"It is time to recognise that only by change will Europe recover its strength, its relevance, its idealism, and therefore its support amongst the people," he said.

In the rousing, 30-minute speech, he rounded on critics who portray him as pushing for Europe to become simply an economic free trade zone, saying they were not only misrepresenting his aims but trying to "intimidate" those who want change.

"I am a passionate pro-European. I always have been," he said. "I believe in Europe with a strong and caring social dimension. I would never accept a Europe that was simply an economic market."

With Britain to take on the rotating EU presidency on July 1, he warned of "failure on a grand, strategic scale" if Europe fails to meet the challenge of globalization, particularly from up-and-coming giants like China and India.

"If European nations, faced with this immense challenge, decide to huddle together, hoping we can avoid globalisation ... then we risk failure. Failure on a grand, strategic, scale."

Blair rejected blame for the acrimonious collapse of the Brussels summit last week after his refusal to discuss Britain's budget rebate unless wider reforms, including that of the Common Agriculture Policy, were opened up for discussion.

The summit breakdown sparked stinging criticism from the likes of French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, with the outgoing Luxembourg EU presidency joining in.

Chirac returned to the charge Wednesday, blasting British "intransigence" and telling a French cabinet meeting that Europe was going through a "serious crisis."

French European affairs minister Catherine Colonna said Paris would closely monitor Britain's attempts during its presidency to find consensus on the issues that have thrown the union into crisis, urging Blair to seek consensus while at helm of the EU.

"It is only this way of proceeding that can make Europe move forward," she told RTL radio, adding the British presidency must "respect engagements made", in particular over the bloc's Common Agricultural Policy.

Blair urged calm, saying "the debate over Europe should not be conducted by trading insults or in terms of personality. It should be an open and frank exchange of ideas."

The financing row fueled Europe's sense of crisis after French and Dutch voters rejected a draft constitution aimed at streamlining decision-making, effectively putting the 50-year project of integration in deep freeze.

The British premier said he believed the French and Dutch had wanted "to register a wider and deeper discontent with the state of affairs in Europe" and implied that European politicians had lost touch with the people.

"The people are blowing the trumpets round the city walls," said Blair.

"Are we listening? Have we the political will to go out and meet them so that they regard our leadership as part of the solution not the problem?" he asked.

Blair's speech received a broadly warm reception in the EU parliament -- surprising some who had expected more leftist taunts.

"At this time the European Socialists will be at Tony Blair's side," said Martin Schulz, head of the European Socialists. "We must lead the necessary debate... Naturally we must reform the CAP."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder welcomed what he said was Blair's call for the EU to be a "political union."

Blair's speech "clearly said he was for a political union," Schroeder told reporters in Berlin.

He said he expected the "British presidency of the European Union to also work in this spirit."

"We shall see if it succeeds," Schroeder added.

In a newspaper column earlier Thursday, Schroeder had fired a fresh salvo at the British leader, saying the European Union was at a crossroads and must be rescued from forces trying to weaken it.

"Europe is more than a market. It is a successful social model, founded on common values, rights and responsibilities. It has preserved the peace and secured prosperity," he wrote in the Bild daily.

In another twist in the debate, France's most influential newspaper Le Monde Thursday called for the partial "renationalisation" of EU farm aid so that EU countries can pay part of subsidies to farmers.

In an editorial responding to Blair's speech and taking a different tack from long-standing French policy, Le Monde said the only way to find the funds needed for EU research and technology was to cut spending on agriculture.

"France can accept a progressive renationalisation. Because in an enlarged Europe it is not justifiable that (France) receive 21 percent of the CAP," it said.

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