Pause is not inactivity” “

Perhaps also thanks to the duel between Chirac and Blair, the debate on the future of the Union is gaining strength. The leaders of France and the United Kingdom had been especially blamed for the failure of the summit of 16 and 17 June, during which the 25 had decided to prolong the time for the ratification of the Constitution, and also to postpone any decision on the Financial Plans for the next five years. On the other hand, the European Parliament gave ample support, during its session of 22-23 June, both to the outgoing President of the European Council, Luxembourg premier Juncker, and to Blair himself. Both spoke of the “need to exploit this pause for reflection” to revive the integration process, although the strategies proposed by the two men are hardly the same. DEFENDING THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL MODEL. Speaking to the European Parliament in Brussels, Luxembourg premier JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, outgoing President of the European Council of Ministers, called for the realization of “a competitive, strong and cohesive Union”. Reviewing the results of the semester that will end on 30 June, Juncker summed up the main continental events of the last six months, the solidarity of the 25 in responding to the tsunami disaster, relations with the USA and the case of Iraq, the revision of the Lisbon Strategy and the Stability Pact. Juncker did not fail to express his disappointment about the failure of the summit of the previous week, with the “slipping” of the ratification of the Constitution and the lack of agreement on the EU budget for the years ahead, responsibility for which Juncker attributed to some countries, the UK in the first place. According to Juncker “a political Europe is needed in this phase, otherwise the Union risks regressing”; he therefore underlined the need to give precedence to European rather than national interests, to defend the European social model and to continue, albeit with due caution, along the path of enlargement. BLAIR: “TRANSFORMING THE UNION IN ORDER TO SAVE IT”. “I am a passionate pro-European”: British premier TONY BLAIR, in his speech to the European Parliament in Brussels, began with a powerful pro-European declaration. Blair will assume the rotating Presidency of the European Council on 1st July and was therefore called to outline to the assembly the programme of his government for the next six months. “This – explained Blair – is a union of values, of solidarity between nations and peoples, of not just a single market in which we trade but a common political space in which we live as citizens”. And he continued: “I believe in Europe as a political project. I believe in Europe with a strong and caring social dimension. I would never accept a Europe that was merely an economic market”. Blair rebutted the criticisms levelled against him in recent days of having been the principal culprit for the failure of the summit of the previous week: “This is not the time – he declared – to accuse those who want Europe to change of betraying Europe. It is a time to recognise that only by change will Europe recover its strength, its relevance, its idealism and therefore its support among the people”. BUDGET AND AGRICULTURAL POLICY UNDER SCRUTINY. The British premier, specifying some points of his programme, added: “In our presidency, we will try to take forward the budget deal, and to resolve some of the hard dossiers, like the services directive and working time directive”. Blair also insisted on the need to revive the Lisbon Strategy”, and for “a reflection that [will] lead to a more rational budget”, able to reassure citizens that their money is being well spent. The CAP should also be discussed: “I never said we should end the CAP now or renegotiate it overnight. Such a position would be absurd. Any change must take account of the legitimate needs of farming communities and happen over time”. Blair also pledged “to carry out the Union’s obligations to Turkey and Croatia” and “conduct a debate about the future of Europe in an open, inclusive way”. The British premier emphasised that “on the Constitution there is the tendency to insist on the institutional problems, whereas today we are faced by great problems and especially political problems, I see the debate that has opened on the ratification of the Constitution as an opportunity to reinforce the EU, so as to make it ever more close to and at the service of European citizens. Let us speak of jobs, of security, of immigration; these are the challenges we must tackle. If we achieve positive results for the people, they will follow us and support the challenge of European integration”. BORRELL: “HISTORIC DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT”. The President of the European Parliament, the Spaniard JOSEP BORRELL, summing up the current phase of discussion in the EU institutions, declared: “We have witnessed an historic debate. Juncker and Blair, two personalities so different from each other, have declared themselves passionate pro-Europeans and in this they coincide with the Parliament”. “Premier Tony Blair – added Borrell – said he wanted to modernize Europe; and thinks that a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is necessary, without turning it upside down from one day to the next; during the Council he also supported the Constitutional Treaty. I am sure that during the British presidency we will pass from words to facts”.