Blair urges EU leaders to heed 'wake-up call'

Tony Blair today urged EU leaders to heed the "wake-up call" from voters who rejected its constitution.

The Prime Minister warned politicians they could not kid themselves that they could carry on with business as usua if they ignored the "reality check".

And he spoke of a "crisis of political leadership" within the EU.

Mr Blair said there was now "a profound debate" on Europe's future, as he addressed MEPs at the European parliament in Brussels, at the start of a three-hour debate marking the UK's assumption of the EU presidency next month.

At one point he was cheered and heckled in equal measure as he described himself as a "passionate pro-European".

He also set out to "demolish" the "caricature" of the UK as "in the grip of some extreme Anglo-Saxon market philosophy that tramples on the poor and disadvantaged".

Mr Blair urged progress on reforming the EU's budget, implementing the market reforms set out in the so-called Lisbon agenda, and a greater focus on crime, security and immigration.

He said he had sat through meeting after meeting where EU communiques claimed to be "reconnecting Europe to the people" but asked: "Are we?"

He went on: "This is not a time 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 amongst the people. And as ever the people are ahead of the politicians.

"For four years Europe conducted a debate over our new constitution, two years of it in the Convention.

"It was a detailed and careful piece of work setting out the new rules to govern a Europe of 25 and in time 27, 28 and more member states.

"It was endorsed by all Governments. It was supported by all leaders.

"It was then comprehensively rejected in referendums in two founding member states, in the case of the Netherlands by over 60%.

"The reality is that in most member states it would be hard today to secure a 'yes' for it in a referendum.

"There are two possible explanations - one is that people studied the constitution and disagreed with its precise articles. I doubt that was the basis of the majority 'no'.

"The other explanation is that the constitution became merely the vehicle for the people to register a wider and deeper discontent with the state of affairs in Europe. I believe this to be the correct analysis."

He went on: "It is not a crisis of political institutions, it is a crisis of political leadership.

"It is time to give ourselves a reality check, to receive the wake-up call.

"The people are blowing the trumpets round the city walls. Are we listening? Have we the political will to go out and meet them so that they regard our leadership as part of the solution not the problem?

"That is the context in which the budget debate should be set. People say: we need the budget to restore Europe's credibility. Of course we do. But it should be the right budget.

"It shouldn't be abstracted from the debate about Europe's crisis. It should be part of the answer to it."

The Prime Minister reminded the MEPs that he was the only British Prime Minister to have offered to put the UK rebate on the negotiating table and said he had never contended the Common Agricultural Policy should be renegotiated overnight.

"I have said simply two things: that we cannot agree a new financial perspective that does not at least set out a process that leads to a more rational Budget, and that this must allow such a Budget to shape the second half of that perspective up to 2013.

"Otherwise it will be 2014 before any fundamental change is agreed, let alone implemented."

He said: "Of course we need a social Europe, but it must be a social Europe that works."

Mr Blair, whose address was frequently punctuated by applause, went on: "Since this is a day for demolishing caricatures, let me demolish one other - the idea that Britain is in the grip of some extreme Anglo-Saxon market philosophy that tramples on the poor and disadvantaged."

He praised his government's record on unemployment, the minimum wage and extending maternity and paternity rights.

And he added: "It is just that we have done it on the basis of, and not at the expense of, a strong economy."

He called for a modern budget that in ten years time was not spending 40% of its money on the CAP.

The Prime Minister said he would try to get a deal on the EU's 2007-2013 finances during the six months of the UK presidency.

He went on: "Only one thing I ask: don't let us kid ourselves that this debate is unnecessary, that if only we assume business as usual people will sooner or later relent and acquiesce in Europe as it is, not as they want it to be."

He said this was a "a moment of decision" for Europe, adding: "The people of Europe are speaking to us. They are posing the questions. They are wanting our leadership. It is time we gave it to them."

As MEPs responded to his remarks, Mr Blair said: "I was wondering if this was going to be a lively session, and I'm glad to see it is. It's called democracy and long may it last."

The Prime Minister began his address saying: "Whatever else people disagree upon in Europe today, they at least agree on one point: Europe is in the midst of a profound debate about its future.

"I want to talk to you plainly today about this debate, the reasons for it and how to resolve it.

"In every crisis there is an opportunity. There is one here for Europe now, if we have the courage to take it.

"The debate over Europe should not be conducted by trading insults or in terms of personality.

"It should be an open and frank exchange of ideas. And right at the outset I want to describe clearly how I define the debate and the disagreement underlying it.

"The issue is not between a free market Europe and a social Europe, between those who want to retreat to a common market and those who believe in Europe as a political project.

"This is not just a misrepresentation. It is to intimidate those who want change in Europe by representing the desire for change as betrayal of the European ideal, to try to shut off serious debate about Europe's future by claiming that the very insistence on debate is to embrace the anti-Europe."

He went on: "I am a passionate pro-European. I always have been."

And he insisted: "This is a union of values, of solidarity between nations and people, of not just a common market in which we trade but a common political space in which we live as citizens."