British PM Hails Success of EU Nice SummitBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday, December 11, hailed the European Union Nice Summit as a success for Britain in which all the country's objectives were secured.Those who claimed "Britain versus Europe is the only game in town" had been proved wrong, he told parliament. In a speech delivered in the House of Commons, Blair said obstacles to EU enlargement had been removed, giving "the real prospect of uniting western and eastern Europe for the first time in generations." But he admitted that decision-making in the European Union had to be made more rational, while denying this was a criticism of the French hosts of the just concluded marathon EU summit. The Prime Minister said the deal agreed at the summit, which ended earlier on Monday, had removed all remaining institutional obstacles to enlarging the 15-member European Union to embrace the countries in Eastern Europe. The gathering, which stretched into five days of haggling and ended in the wee hours of Monday, was the longest summit in EU history. "Enlargement will now happen. But we cannot continue to take decisions as important as this in this way," he said. "This is not criticism of the French presidency, who did well in immensely difficult circumstances," Blair added. He stressed that reform was essential "so that a more rational way of decision-making is achieved." During the summit, Blair proposed stronger intergovernmental structures, and a second chamber for the European parliament made up of representatives from national parliaments. Britain is eager to see new members admitted. Officials in Blair's government say this is partly because it is thought the new members will share Britain's traditional concerns about signing away too many powers to centralized EU institutions. Opposition Condemns EU Nice TreatyBritish opposition Conservative Party leader William Hague told the House of Commons Monday that the just concluded European Union Nice summit violated Britain's interests and his party would not ratify the Nice treaty if it won the country's forthcoming general election.The Nice Summit represented "three major steps to a European superstate," Hague claimed. He said that the compromise deal, which paves the way for EU expansion, would be dumped by the Tories if they won the poll expected to be held in early to mid-2001. "A Conservative government will not ratify the treaty if the party wins the next election," Hague told the chamber, calling on Prime Minister Tony Blair to organize a national referendum on ratification of the treaty. Before Hague's remarks, Blair was briefing parliament on the outcome of the Nice summit, saying "British interests were advanced," referring to Britain holding on to its veto on taxation and social security, seen as crucial to Blair's domestic credibility in a national climate of rampant europhobia. Blair hailed the European Union Nice Summit as a success for Britain in which all the country's objectives were secured. Those who claimed "Britain versus Europe is the only game in town" had been proved wrong, he said. Blair said obstacles to EU enlargement had been removed, giving "the real prospect of uniting western and eastern Europe for the first time in generations." But he admitted that decision-making in the European Union had to be made more rational, while denying this was a criticism of the French hosts of the just concluded marathon EU summit. However, Hague said the prime minister had caved in with "three more major steps to a European superstate," by dropping several rights to veto, agreeing to a charter of fundamental rights and accepting the creation of a European army. |
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