Blair forging unpopular path as EU leader

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair will tomorrow tell the European Parliament how he intends to manage his six months at the EU helm.

Seldom has the incoming presidency been at the centre of such a deep and serious row as the British Prime Minister is now.

He has very little good will from other states following his handling of EU issues over the past month - from being too quick off the mark following the French rejection of the constitution to his intransigence during the summit.

Central to last week’s summit were a bruising series of clashes between Mr Blair, who refused to give up Britain’s budget rebate, and French president Jacques Chirac, who refused to concede any reform of the CAP.

Mr Blair’s speech to the British Parliament on Monday, however, showed that he is not repentant. His meeting with the Swedish Prime Minister on Tuesday illustrated that he has a plan, and he intends to pursue it.

Europe needs a leader. The events of last week’s summit show that very clearly. But whether Mr Blair is the right person is far from sure.

He has selected the EU’s budget as being the issue that needs reforming.

He has chosen a section of this, agriculture, that is bound to be winner with the public given that only 5% of people work in farming in the union.

He points out that over 40% of the EU’s budget goes on agriculture, which is responsible for just 1.6% of economic output.

He talks of the need to invest in the future - competitiveness, growth, research and development. Few would argue with this given that unemployment is 10% or more in many of the larger member states.

But Mr Blair appears to be doing just what his fellow EU leaders do regularly - spinning it to suit himself and not necessarily the greater good of citizens.

The way he uses the EU figures and wields his power in the union does little to overcome suspicions.

Mr Blair wants to build a coalition of the willing to reform the budget, he says.

It is not clear how Mr Blair sees the EU operating in the future.

He may wish the EU to become more like EFTA - the association the EU has with Norway, Iceland and Switzerland with emphasis on sharing a common market.

He may wish to simply transfer funds from agriculture to industry or he may wish to abolish this area of spending to reduce the budget and so eliminate the contentious British rebate.

He hopes in September to have a new ally in all this - the hotly-tipped future chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. But she is on the record as favouring political union within the EU, which may clash with Mr Blair’s vision.

Finally, Mr Blair will need to bring the people of Europe with him.

Currently his countrymen have the lowest opinion of the EU and least confidence in it of all 25 member states.