Britain Needs Europe to Change: Blair

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Britain Needs Europe to Change: Blair

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that Britain needs Europe to change, insisting that his country should not fear giving up its veto over some areas of EU policy as the bloc expands to 25 nations next year.

"Britain needs Europe to work and, for Europe to work, it needs to change," Blair said in a statement to the House of Commons on the EU delivery of the draft Constitutional Treaty.

"The EU at 25 nations will be very different from Europe at 15...This means Europe must change the way it works," Blair said, emphasizing that Britain should not fear every extension of qualified majority voting (QMV) as hostile to the country.

However, Blair said there were still real battles over the final agreement of the draft EU constitution, which was presented to the EU summit in Greece last week and aimed at streamlining how the EU operates after it welcomes 10 new members next year.

"There are real battles of course: for example, over tax or defense. But they are battles we can win. At this point in time, with Europe at a crucial point of evolution, Britain has to have the confidence to stride forward," Blair assured the lawmakers.

"I have no doubt that a Europe that now stretches from Finland and the Baltic States to the shores of the Aegean Sea, Cyprus and Malta is a Europe that should have Britain at its heart," he added.

Blair's statement came amid claims from the euro sceptic Conservative Party that the EU Constitution would pass British sovereignty on key issues such as foreign affairs, defense and economy to Brussels.

The Conservative Party has been demanding a referendum on any EU constitution, which Blair has refused.

The draft Constitution, which would undergo an official negotiation process when 15 current EU members and 10 future ones meet for intergovernmental conference later this year, calls for the establishment of a new president of the European Council and anew EU foreign minister.

It also proposes that some areas of EU policy such as trade in services and the fight against terrorism, drugs and illegal immigration should move to QMV.

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