BRITAIN: British prime minister Tony Blair has said there has never been a better time to be optimistic about Europe, or enthusiastic about Britain's part in it.
In his first speech on Europe since handing over the EU presidency to Austria, Mr Blair declared last night: "History is on the side of Europe. Despite all the setbacks of recent years I have no doubt that, in times to come, Europe will be stronger and more integrated."
As he attacked what he termed the Conservative Party's "baleful lurch" to the right over Europe, he insisted: "For Britain, this is the last imaginable time to walk away. Today we have a shining opportunity to become part of a new consensus about the EU in the 21st century."
Addressing an invited audience at St Anthony's College, Oxford, Mr Blair said: "Europe has emerged from its darkened room. It has a new generation of leaders. A new consensus is forming.
"Yes, there is still a debate to be had, but the argument in favour of an open Europe is winning." However, Conservative shadow foreign secretary William Hague poured scorn on Mr Blair, saying: "If a new generation of leaders is now beginning to think seriously about a new, more open Europe it is because the last generation of leaders, Tony Blair among them, have been following the wrong road for Europe."
The former Tory leader, who returned to frontline politics under David Cameron, said that as Mr Blair's departure neared more such "valedictory elegies" might be expected.
"However, the point he fails to tackle is why prospects for the EU are so bright when he has failed in his two great European projects; the euro and the constitution. Doesn't he see there may be any link?"
And while "Mr Blair can leave office pleased, as we all are, with the achievement of EU enlargement" charged Mr Hague, "his tragedy is that he never developed a strategic vision for Europe or created a new model for Europe with which the British people could feel at ease".
Mr Blair said the entry of countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states was inspiring evidence of the forward march of European history.
As for Britain in Europe, he said: "Globalisation, enlargement and the new security threats Europe faces, not only make the case for engagement not isolation more powerful; but also mean that these changes in Europe, especially enlargement, offer us a historic opportunity to cure the sickness that has afflicted Britain's relationship with the project of European integration ever since it joined the European Community more than 30 years ago."