Blair greeted by protests as he pushes for economic reform

British Prime Minister Tony Blair returned to the European Parliament in Strasbourg today, four months after delivering an ambitious speech that kicked off Britain’s EU presidency – and immediately faced a group of MEPs demanding more transparency in EU lawmaking.

Several dozen politicians greeted Blair by chanting “Open Council meetings,” a reference to the closed-door nature of the law adoption process on the EU level.

Blair started his visit to the EU assembly by meeting a group of Socialist MEPs. He was also scheduled to meet with British Conservative MEPs.

In an address to the assembly later, Blair is expected to elaborate on his agenda of economic reform for the bloc to meet the challenge of emerging economies.

Blair’s official spokesman Tom Kelly said Blair hoped to achieve an “overall strategic consensus” at tomorrow’s informal EU summit at Hampton Court on how to meet globalization challenges, just weeks before Britain’s EU presidency comes to an end.

“There will be difficult decisions to make in December,” he said.