04/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - The PES document on Socialist priorities for Europe, presented by Giuliano Amato on Thursday has been sharply criticised from within its own ranks (see EUROPE yesterday p 6). French Socialist, Pervenche Berès found it "disappointing" particularly because it doesn't mention tax harmonisation and the establishing of minimum social rights at a European level, as well as the lack of "audacity" on institutional issues and unanimity voting. British Conservative, Timothy Kirkhope thought that the paper would be very embarassing for Tony Blair because it supported the abolition of the veto for all EU legislation ("if we didn't have the veto in foreign policy, we could be prevented from standing with the US in a war against Iraq"), he exclaimed. Elmar Brok (CDU), who belongs to the same EPP-ED group as Mr Kirkhope, was delighted that the PES supported a limit to the use of unanimity in CFSP but found the document insufficiently ambitious and too vague regarding institutional matters.