Brussels, 23/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - Most part of the meeting that Tony Blair had this morning with the European Commission was devoted to the Lisbon Summit, Commission President Romano Prodi told the press on Wednesday, sitting beside the British Prime Minister. Lisbon will be an "important occasion for translating growth, not only in jobs but also into a very big effort at changing Europe", said Mr. Prodi, for whom educating the young generation of Europeans in new technologies, the knowledge-based society, research, the inclusiveness of European society will be among the "guarantees for the future of Europe". Then, observing "very, very strong agreement" with Tony Blair on these issues, he noted that the Summit may be a "boring meeting", as "we will not be fighting". For Tony Blair, the Summit will be crucial, as it "is the first time that we have an (economic) reform agenda and a summit dedicated to reform". This reform has to be both "entirely compatible with the values of the model of European society and enable this model to adapt to today's world", Blair reaffirmed.
Asked about his country's place in Europe, Mr. Blair stressed that this place was "absolutely vital for industry and jobs" (three million jobs depend directly on our belonging to the EU, he said), repeating that the United Kingdom had to "lead the way" in Europe. It is a question of a "Europe of nation-States working closer together", he said in answer to questions on a European "super-State", adding: "I have never heard Romano say that he wants to do away with Italy as a nation-State (…) or that he wants a European army run by the Commission".
Belgo-British Declaration for Summit: full employment, modernisation
of social security, "SME Charter"
Tony Blair developed his ideas in a speech entitled "Committed to Europe, Reforming Europe" made the Ghent City Hall on Wednesday and his which he recalled Mrs. Thatcher's "Bruges Speech" (of 20 September 1988: Ed.). That was the beginning of the "isolationist and hostile stance" of the Conservative Party, Mr. Blair observed, adding: not all Mrs. Thatcher's criticisms were unjustified, some were even shared by others in the European Union, but "my disagreement is that the response to those criticisms was for Britain to withdraw into its shell, to opt-out". The results "was not that Europe stopped moving, but that Britain stopped shaping the form and direction of that movement", whereas since May 1997 (when he arrived in power) London has provided "a substantive and clear contribution" to all new EU initiatives, Tony Blair pointed out. Regarding the IGC that has just begun, Mr. Blair spoke of flexibility ("I am confident that common sense can find a way through") and the need for an "efficient, strong and independent Commission" and a "concerted drive on subsidiarity".
As for the Lisbon Summit, Mr. Blair reaffirmed that the "main challenge" was to make "Europe the best place in the world to do business in the new high-tech knowledge economy", but that "Lisbon's agenda rightly goes wider", as it is a question of promoting "economic dynamism and social justice", recognising that "getting people back to work is the best way of alleviating poverty and strengthening societies". "Today, Guy Verhofstadt and I have announced a joint proposal for Lisbon on modernising European social policy so that it makes work pay", said Mr. Blair (see below). Mr. Blair hopes that Lisbon "will mark a turning point in Europe's approach to economic and social policy", and said: "We want to put full employment back at the heart of Europe's social agenda".
Speaking on the same occasion, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt stressed in particular that the Belgo-British declaration placed emphasis on a particular challenge: the need for all groups that make up society to participate "in the revolution born of the new economy" - in other words, "the creation of a social plinth for economic and monetary Europe". There are three "levers we may use for that purpose", which are the aim of full employment, the modernisation of social security (with particular attention being paid to funding pensions and the right of all to quality health care) and a "Charter for SMEs, reducing over-regulation", he said. (We shall return to this declaration: see another page of this bulletin for the Spanish paper for the Lisbon Summit and EUROPE of 21/22 February, p.9, for the joint priorities for the summit presented by France, Belgium and Italy).