Brussels, 21/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - In his presentation to the House of Commons on the European Council results of 16-17 June, Tony Blair defended a position that even won some praise from the leader of the opposition Conservative party leader, Michael Howard. Ten days away from the beginning of the British presidency of the Council of the EU and two days before the presentation of his programme to the European Parliament in Brussels, Tony Blair highlighted his vision of Europe and took to task his colleagues by concluding his intervention at the House of Commons with the following words, “It is said that the failure to reach a deal has deepened Europe's crisis; that Europe's credibility demanded a deal. NO. Europe's credibility demands the right deal. Not the usual cobbled together in the early hours of the morning but a deal which recognised the nature of the crisis. This crisis is not about the failure of Europe's leaders to reach agreement with each other. The crisis is about the failure of Europe's leaders to reach agreement with the people of Europe about the issues that concern them. People in Europe see the world changing around them…They worry about globalisation and organised crime not the reweighting of votes in the European Council…If we answer these concerns, Europe will strengthen. And we need a strong Europe to bolster the strength of individual nations. The European budget shouldn't be separate from that debate but part of it. It is that debate which we will look forward to, in our presidency.”
On the European Constitution, Blair pointed out that following the no-votes in France and the Netherlands, “ratification cannot succeed unless and until those votes change.” Blair also alluded to the Dutch prime minister, who, “rightly and inevitably, said frankly that there was no prospect of his bringing back the treaty for any sort of new decision in this Dutch parliament. As a result, whatever words are used in Council conclusions…the treaty cannot proceed”.
On the budget, Blair denied that they had not blocked the negotiations, explaining “Our position therefore was not to refuse any change to the rebate, to rule out a discussion, or to disown our responsibility to pay for enlargement of Europe we support passionately. On the contrary, I made it clear that we should deal withy both anomalies - the rebate and the CAP. I proposed that we have a fundamental review of the EU Budget, midway through the next financial period - to alter fundamentally the structure of the budget”. Tony Blair exclaimed that the terms in the presidency's proposal “were expressed in language so vague as to be meaningless. In addition, the word meant, effectively, endorsing the 2002 CAP up to 2013…the cost to the UK of the Luxembourg proposal would be over EUR 25 billion…This is a deal that I could not have recommended to this House. It was not the right deal for Britain. It was not the right deal for Europe. Four other European countries rejected it and several more made clear their satisfaction…This isn't a budget fit for purpose in the 21st century.” Mr Blair pointed out that even at the beginning of 2014 “we would be spending 40 per cent on the CAP. Europe cannot wait 10 years or more for change”.