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Blair gives an unrepentant
speech to the truculent EU Parliament to "set out his stall"
for the upcoming EU Presidency. He takes great pains to accentuate
his European credentials. The contentious point is that there's
no quarter given on the issues of modernisation and economic
reform; i.e. more free market economics, a labour force free
of the constraints of the Social Chapter and the slashing of
the Common Agricultural Policy budget. The EU under a British
President would strive to persuade Europe that more of its money
needs to be transferred into New Labour things like R&D,
skills and the opportunities offered by globalisation. He stresses
that this doesn't mean the loss of a "social Europe",
but it won't look that way from a French perspective; the French
way of life - for the farmer and the bon viveur - would be under
threat. Gordon Brown had given an even more hard-hitting speech
at his annual Mansion House address to the City fat cats. he
is seen as the "hoodie boy" [above] to Tony Blair's
more oleaginous market trader, giving the French farmer the two
fingers.
The Times; Friday 24/6/05 |
