British Prime Minister Tony Blair challenged the European Union today to reform itself to meet the challenges of the global economy, saying the bloc's constitutional and budget crisis was an opportunity for change.
He told the European Parliament in a fighting speech setting out Britain's priorities for its six-month presidency of the bloc from July 1 that it was wrong to caricature the choice as being between political union and a mere free trade area.
In a clear swipe at his French and German peers, Mr Blair said the EU was facing a crisis of political leadership and economic stagnation that made it hard to win voter support for the bloc's troubled constitution in most of its 25 countries.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and outgoing EU president Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg have all said a deeper rift over what the EU should be was at the heart of the clash that prevented a summit last week agreeing a long-term budget for the 25-nation bloc.
“This is not a time to accuse those who want Europe to change of betraying Europe,” Mr Blair said.
“It is a time to recognise that only by change will Europe recover its strength, its relevance, its idealism and therefore its support amongst the people.
“The issue is not between a free-market Europe and a social Europe, between those who want to retreat to a common market and those who believe in Europe as a political project,” he said.
Mr Blair was both heckled and cheered when he told EU lawmakers “I am a passionate pro-European”. His speech won applause, although not the standing ovation that lawmakers gave Mr Juncker, a veteran European integrationist, yesterday.
But he did not get the hostile reception some had forecast, partly because he projected himself as being on the pro-European side of Britain's permanent internal battle over Europe and roundly condemned Euroscepticism, deputies said.
Mr Blair said the EU urgently needed economic reform to rekindle growth and must gradually reduce the share of its budget it spends on farm subsidies, trumpeting Britain's social and economic model as a success.
In a slap at those in France and Germany who accuse Britain of wanting to replace the European social model with an “Anglo-Saxon” economic free-for-all, he asked: “What type of social model is it that has 20 million unemployed in Europe.“
French and Dutch “No” votes to the EU constitution showed electorates were alienated by economic failure and a refusal to hold a “real debate” on making Europe work better, he argued.
Serious progress on structural economic reform would build public support for a sensible, rational fiscal policy.
“And we need such reform urgently in Europe, if Europe is to grow,” Mr Blair said, warning Europeans against turning their backs on further enlargement of the bloc.