It will be no small task to fashion a new Europe out of nation states which are starting to break free of the European Union’s dead hand and assert themselves. But the Prime Minister is right to relish the challenge. It was almost inevitable that the rigid structure imposed by accumulated rules since the Treaty of Rome would eventually fracture under the weight of economic recession and political compromise stretched too far by the requirements of “ever-closer Union”. It is Mr Blair’s good fortune that this has happened when Britain is about to ascend to the EU presidency.
Like the proverbial cat with nine lives, Mr Blair senses that a new legacy is within his grasp. Some diplomats will be urging him to go slow and let others speak first. There is sometimes merit in this argument, but not on this occasion. He has an unparalleled opportunity to define a new direction, and must stick to his guns.
Mr Blair’s speech to the European Parliament yesterday was a trenchant call for a “reality check”, though laced with perhaps a little too much MEP mollification. He rightly emphasised the lack of progress on the Lisbon agenda for economic reform. This was launched in 2000 with the ambition of making Europe “the most competitive place to do business in the world by 2010”. But it has so far proved a dismal shadow of that ideal, hamstrung by the nationalistic and protectionist instincts of countries that still cannot seem to see the forces of Asian enterprise galloping at full tilt over the horizon. A new Europe must be one in which enterprise, not just rhetoric, can flourish.
Mr Blair’s arguments against agricultural subsidies, particularly the Common Agricultural Policy that swallows 40 per cent of the EU budget, have been well made. And he is right to set the budget debate in the context of the larger question of what Europe is for, rather than the narrower imperative of restoring “credibility” that consumes so many Eurocrats. Only an infusion of real democracy into the body politic will prove truly restorative.
In his desire to limit the EU budget to 1 per cent of joint gross domestic product, to overhaul agricultural subsidies and to free nation states to flex their economic muscles, Mr Blair has democracy on his side. However, he should become even more specific about what powers should be returned to nation states. The second half of his speech yesterday sounded rather like the “business as usual” that he derided in the first half. In attempting to reassure MEPs, he repeated some classic Brussels thinking on employment law and European defence that deserves to be treated with rather more scepticism.
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That said, it is clear that a strong dose of realism will be needed if something more than stalemate is to be salvaged from the wreckage of the constitution. For all her supportive noises about budget reform, Angela Merkel, the probable next German Chancellor, is not yet Lady Thatcher in waiting. In the next few months she is likely to make pronouncements for home consumption, particularly against Turkish entry to the Union, that Mr Blair will find uncomfortable. Nevertheless, there is clearly an opportunity to stitch together a new Euro-pean alliance based on equality and opportunity. A freer Europe would unleash energy on a scale that could transform the prospects of every citizen: a fine legacy indeed.