Blair under fire after tactical retreat on immigration

Tony Blair's alliance-building strategy in Europe suffered a significant setback this weekend, with France dominating a summit in Seville and Anglo-Spanish plans on immigration and EU reform watered down.

In the aftermath of the two-day meeting, Mr Blair was accused of miscalculation and of playing to the domestic gallery over proposals to threaten poor countries with sanctions unless they co-operated in the fight against illegal immigration.

Worse, he appeared to have upset one of his closest allies, the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, who had to backtrack on the issue when the UK softened its position. Sections of the Spanish media accused Britain of beating a tactical retreat and leaving the Spanish EU presidency "in the lurch".

One diplomat described Mr Aznar as "naive" for going along with British thinking in the first place.

The event was a particular setback for Mr Blair, who has had some success in setting the agenda in Europe in the past three years by forging a series of alliances. In the event, the weekend summit of EU leaders reached a wide-ranging deal to set timetables to agree a common policy on asylum and a watered-down package of reforms to the EU's Council of Ministers.

But the public row over the possibility of taking sanctions against nations which do not take back rejected asylum-seekers from Europe, or help combat people-trafficking, backfired on the British and Spanish. The victor was the main opponent of the proposal, the French President, Jacques Chirac, who found himself on the moral high ground.

Mr Chirac, who along with the Swedish Prime Minister, Goran Persson, insisted that the text was toned down, was described by one official as the dominant force at the meeting. "He was authoritative and full of self-confidence," the source said.

Now re-elected and without the handicap of having to work with a Socialist prime minister, Mr Chirac spoke at length to his fellow leaders and adopted a more presidential style at his press conference. He also toned down plans to reform summits by rejecting a proposal to have majority voting on some issues when EU heads of government meet. Such an arrangement could have forced France to accept liberalisation of its energy markets.

A senior EU diplomat argued that Mr Blair had showed an uncharacteristically poor hand by stoking the rhetoric over immigration and asylum.

"We could have got through all these measures on asylum and immigration without giving the impression that we were going to reach for the nearest rifle to shoot immigrants as they approach the coast of Europe," the diplomat said.

"This was one of the few moments when you could see Britain losing in terms of its attempts to project itself as shaping the agenda, because Tony Blair did well at almost all the summits since Lisbon [in the spring of 2000]".

The British position on the vexed issue of sanctions against poor countries which fail to co-operate in the battle against illegal immigration has been a moving target. The Government at first briefed the press on the tough line it was taking and argued that the EU must use its "economic and financial clout" with third countries.

While at times that position was softened, a week ago, the British Government was still backing Spain's attempts to get a toughly-worded agreement. After briefings in Seville, the weekend Spanish press accused Mr Blair of rowing back when it became clear that France was opposing any move to emphasise sanctions.

Confronted with other domestic problems, including a general strike and terrorist bombs, the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, was desperate for a summit deal and backed down.

Under the plans agreed at the weekend, the possibility of taking sanctions against recalcitrant nations remains open, but yesterday's deal made clear that this would only be a last resort, and would require the backing of all 15 members, allowing France a veto.

However, the meeting agreed a series of targets for a common EU asylum policy and co-operation on managing Europe's external frontiers. They include a common definition of refugee status, co-ordinated policies on visas, an updated treaty laying down which country should deal with asylum claims and further measures designed to prevent "asylum shopping".

On reform of the European institutions, the leaders agreed to limit future summits to one day, slim down their delegations of officials and cut out long-winded speeches. There was also a deal to reduce the number of EU ministerial committees in Brussels from 16 to nine. But another idea – splitting the cumbersome meeting of EU foreign ministers – was watered down to meet the Benelux countries' objections.

But Britain won a victory on one issue, when EU leaders agreed to open some parts of ministerial meetings to television cameras. Mr Blair argued that the move would help tackle public scepticism about the EU by opening the secretive machinations of Brussels to the wider gaze of the voters.