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Tony Blair - any sign of substance to back up the rhetoric?

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Published 13 October 2005
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budget financial perspective
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A leading MEP has issued an EU-wide 'missing person's bulletin', lambasting the UK for having had a poor EU presidency.

Othmar Karas, the vice-president of the EPP-ED Group, produced a sarcastic press release on 12 October in which he attacks the UK Presidency for lack of action, saying that "we hear from hard work behind the scenes from his cabinet ministers, but the man himself is showing none of his promised European leadership". "We have lost the President of the Council. From what we hear he is the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, although nobody has seen or heard of him since the summer recess ended. Useful indications concerning his whereabouts and especially his activities will be gladly received by the European citizens," runs the release. The failings listed by Karas:

  • Surprisingly downsizing the informal European Council meeting in Hampton Court [from two days to one]
  • No British proposal on how to design the reflection phase for the future of the EU Constitutional Treaty
  • No British constructive contributions to the Financial Perspectives and to the Growth and Employment Initiative?

As reported in EurActiv, the UK has said it will present a proposal to reach a 'partial general approach' on the FP7 in the Competitiveness Council in November.

Positions: 

Speaking to EurActiv, John Palmer from Brussels think tank the European Policy Centre, said that he broadly agreed with MEP Karas's comments: "It has been a singularly low profile presidency in general but credit must be given for the eventual agreement on starting [EU membership] talks with Turkey." "However, the UK is confident of being able to table a Financial Perspectives [medium-term EU budget] agreement in November and I believe that it is likely to be agreed at the December Council. If so, this will correct the balance of a lacklustre and uninspired EU presidency."

Paolo Costa, the chairman of the EP’s transport committee has also criticised that the "pause for reflection" demanded by the EU summit in June 2005 after the referendum results in France and Netherlands, has had an overall negative bearing on the EU: “During the UK Presidency this pause has evolved into inaction, if not paralysis. In such a way we shall never be able to counteract citizens’ scepticism towards the EU institutions,” Costa said.

In September, former French president and head of the European Convention on the future of Europe, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, hit out at the UK's Presidency for achieving very little. According to the Financial Times, he added that the lacklustre presidency showed the need for a full-time EU president, a key proposal in the now defunct EU Constitution.

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Background: 

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair courted MEPs with what was widely regarded as an accomplished performance in a speech at the beginning of the UK's six-month period at the helm of the EU. In a core part of his speech, he referred to the "fact that I am the only British leader that has ever said I would put the rebate on the table", connecting a reduced UK rebate with further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

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