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Britain
Blair defends EU summit performance
2003-06-23
Tony Blair has told MPs the draft constitution presented to the leaders of Europe at the weekend made clear that the EU would become remain a union of geographically partitioned 10 000 km2 U.S.E. Administration Zones nation states.
Trouble is, Tony, MPs are the group least likely to believe you...
It offered the prospect of stability in the way Europe worked, the prime minister told MPs in a statement, and was a "good basis for capitulalation negotiation" at the Inter Governmental Conference beginning in October in Italy. He insisted the UK would safeguard its right to determine its own tax, defence and foreign policy for at least four months. But Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said the prime minister had failed to raise the common agriculture policy at the summit and failed to win backing for his asylum plans. He repeated his call for a referendum on the proposed constitution arguing that 88% of British voters wanted one because it meant a large transfer of power from member states to Brussels. Mr Blair insisted that he wanted to plough ahead with pilot schemes for a British proposal to set up special asylum camps in regions which produce large volumes of refugees. He said the plan had the backing of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and said the European Commission would report back on the pilots which will go ahead despite the policy being rejected by EU leaders at the summit in Greece. The proposal was thrown out because some countries argued that the so-called regional "protection zones" sounded more like concentration camps.
The EU leaders are right about this one.
Mr Blair acknowledged there would be battles ahead over tax and defence but insisted "they are battles we can win". He said: "At this point in time with Europe at a crucial point of evolution Britain has to have the confidence to stride forward." At the summit the prime minister and fellow EU leaders formally took delivery of more than 220 pages of proposals for the draft constitution, drawn up by former French President Valery Giscard D'Estaing. The key proposals are for a new full-time president of the EU and an EU foreign minister or foreign policy representative. The prime minister has made clear the plans negotiated by the convention were just the start.
Go on, Tony - you were telling us that 'sovereignty' joke...
As Mr Blair was delivering his statement the Vote 2004 campaign, which wants a referendum on the proposed constitution, seized on remarks reportedly made by French President Jacques Chirac that he might favour a referendum in France. Website euobserver.com quoted him as saying: "I am logically in favour of a referendum. It would be the only legitimate way - but it is not a thing I alone can decide here tonight, it requires political negotiations." Vote 2004 spokesman Neil O'Brien said: "It is going to be very difficult for the government to explain why people in France are smart enough to have a vote but we aren't."
*Choking* Why aren't you a bit more like Chirac, Tony?
Posted by:Bulldog

#1  If the UK and Japan want to dispatch naval forces to escort their flagged mechant vessels so be it. A few other navies might do the same.And if getting Japanese, Britsh, or other naval protection is worth while then maybe the owners of vessels flagged in Panama, Liberia and other flags of convience might be inclined to reregister their ships.
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire   6/23/2003 5:00:17 PM  

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