24/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with Corriere della Sera on Thursday, the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Justice, Franco Frattini, considers that Tony Blair will “pragmatically seek to rebuild the consensus between European leaders, on the budget”. He went on to say: “On one side, Italy should not lose the thread of a pro-European tradition of over 50 years, while, on the other, I believe that it will not be able to renounce helping Tony Blair and his vision of true reformer”. The president of the European Liberal and Reform Party (ELDR), Werner Hoyer, stresses that Chirac and Schröder share responsibility for the fact that the EU budget is not sufficiently future-orientated and says: “Blair does not belong to those who, with a stubborn defence of the farm subsidies, are dealing the last blow to the ambitious Lisbon strategy”. The FDP official believes Tony Blair “convincingly pursues the goal of sustainably improving Europe's chances to come to terms with global competition”.