Brussels, 09/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU president should be directly elected by EU citizens and Europe should change the way it operates and expand European integration to have more collective weight in order to have an influence in tomorrow's world, said former British prime minister Tony Blair in an interview with The Times newspaper on 9 June. Europe has a fantastic opportunity ahead of it, but only if it is prepared to reform itself and radically change the way it works, he said. Blair said greater integration was required in the following areas - taxation and the social model, concluding the single market, energy policy, defence policy, immigration policy and tackling organised crime. Although there was no chance of it being accepted at the moment, the election of the president of the EU by universal suffrage would make citizens feel closer to the EU, he said. (H.B./transl.fl)