Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair called for the first eastward enlargement of the European Union in time for the new members to participate in the next EU elections in 2004. "I want to see new member states participating in the European Parliamentary elections in 2004 and having a seat at the table at the next IGC," said Blair.
In his speech to the Stock Exchange in Warsaw on Friday, 6 October, Blair presented his vision of the future of the EU, in answer to earlier interventions of other European leaders.
Blair proposed creating a second chamber of the European Parliament, consisting of members of national parliaments, "to provide democratic oversight at a European level of the common foreign and security policy". In reaction to German foreign minister's proposal of creating a European federation, Blair called for "a superpower, but not a superstate".
British prime minister affirmed that the EU needed "a strong Commission able to act independently, with its power of initiative". He played down the idea of adopting a European constitution, proposing rather "a charter of competences" or "a statement of the principles according to which we should decide what is best done at the European level and what should be done at the national level".
Blair's speech is a reaction to earlier proposals by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of a federal Europe, and French President Jacques Chirac's proposal for a European constitution and his call for a 'two-speed' EU. Blair proposes a non-federal version of Europe, where heads of state would play a greater role through the council of ministers.
Michel Barnier, European Commissioner responsible for matters on the reform of the institutions, welcomed the speech of British prime minister as an important contribution to the on-going debate on the future of Europe.
"Mr Blair's speech is a clear and timely indication that the United Kingdom is fully engaged in the debate on the future direction of the European Union - in the past it has tended to follow rather than play an active part in the shaping of events. He has confirmed his government's commitment to stronger institutions after enlargement. This must also be reflected, of course, in the proposals for all of the institutions including the European Commission and the European Parliament. I am also pleased to see that there has been a new emphasis on the need to allow those countries that so wish to move forward together and to cooperate on policy issues. Closer cooperation must not however be seen as the magic solution to the lack of agreement on extension of qualified majority voting," said Barnier on 6 October at a conference at the University of Graz in Austria.
Commission president Romano Prodi also proposed his version of the future of the EU in a speech to the European Parliament on 3 October. He defended the Community model, with a powerful role for the Commission, and criticised initiatives and ideas by some countries (notably France and the UK) to increase the "intergovernmental" co-operation at the expense of the powers of Commission and European Parliament.
