Blair sets out European treaty demands

Tony Blair vowed to defend Britain's control of its own law as he set out his demands for a deal at his farewell European Union summit.

The Prime Minister - in a message to fellow EU leaders - said there were four elements he would not accept in any new treaty.

But he denied that not reaching agreement on a replacement for the European Constitution would represent a failure of his European policies.

Mr Blair, making his final appearance before the Commons Liaison Committee, said: "If people want an agreement this week we've got to go back to a conventional amending treaty.

"Europe needs to work more effectively. What is does not need is a constitutional treaty or a treaty 'with the characteristics of a constitution' to put it in the words the Dutch have used.

"In my view we should be very clear about this and this gives me an opportunity to make this absolutely clear, here and also to our European colleagues.

"First we will not accept a treaty that allows the charter of fundamental rights to change UK law in any way.

"Second, we will not agree to something that displaces the role of British foreign policy and our foreign minister.

"Thirdly, we will not agree to give up our ability to control our common law and judicial and police system.

"And fourthly, we will not agree to anything that moves to qualified majority voting something that can have a big say in our own tax and benefits system.

"Those are four major changes, obviously, in what was agreed before and that is the position we will set out and if people want an agreement I'm afraid we are going to have to agree on that."

The summit will attempt to agree a replacement to the attempts to forge an EU constitution which were scuppered by "no" votes in French and Dutch referendums.

Mr Blair, who will face major pressure from fellow leaders to go further, also rejected Eurosceptics demands that any new treaty should be put to a vote in the UK.

"If we achieve those four objectives, I defy people to say what it is that is supposed to be so fundamental it would require a referendum.

Asked if not finding agreement ahead of his departure from Downing Street next week would represent a failure of his European policies over a decade, he said: "No; there's a lot more to it than what has gone on here.

"When I first came in we were completely isolated - Europe wasn't really moving in a British direction.

"If you look at it today, on economic reform, on energy, on climate change, on European defence, on enlargement, Europe has moved in our direction and I think we need to keep our position strong at the centre of Europe.

"One of the things that is so important is that we don't carry a mid-20th century view of the world into the early 21st century and end up separating ourselves apart from Europe at the very moment when, with a new French president, a new German chancellor, a new president of the Commission, we have people more on the British side of how Europe should develop than we have ever had."