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Brown forces Blair to stand up and veto a French stitch-up
Last updated at 23:52pm on 22.06.07Gordon Brown has forced Tony Blair to block a plan that could have scuppered Europe's 50-year commitment to the free market.
The Chancellor intervened from London after discovering the Prime Minister was ready to approve the change that would have "ripped apart" competition policy.
He phoned Mr Blair at the European summit in Brussels to warn him to resist the shock move by French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
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Give and take? Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discuss the latest manoeuvres at the Brussels summit
His intervention came as EU leaders inched toward agreement on a landmark treaty to replace the discredited constitution.
Hopes of a deal suffered a setback last night however when Poland said talks on new voting rules had "hit a wall". The country's leaders are determined to stop Germany gaining extra influence in European affairs through its larger population.
But Germany threatened to override the objections. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was ready to ignore a Polish veto and call a special conference of the other 26 EU members later this year to hammer out a new treaty.
Warsaw rejected a compromise brokered by Mr Sarkozy that would have put off implementation of the proposed voting arrangements.
Amid extraordinary scenes, the French leader summoned Polish president Lech Kazcynski out of the leaders' dinner, along with Mr Blair, and appealed to the former to change his mind.
It also looked likely that Britain would be forced to give up its veto in up to 40 areas including transport, culture and sport.
But Mr Brown was more outraged that Mr Sarkozy had persuaded Germany to delete a reference to "free and undistorted" competition from the EU's objectives.
The commitment had been enshrined in the founding document of the EU, the Treaty of Rome, in 1957. The move to dump it prompted claims from officials that it could lead to the "disintegration" of the power group.
Lawyers and business experts warned it would allow countries to prop up ailing businesses with hefty state subsidies, something currently allowed in exceptional cases only.
Downing Street initially signalled Britain would accept this betrayal of one of the EU's basic objectives, in what critics said was a tradeoff with France to win support for Britain's demands.
Mr Blair's official spokesman said he was satisfied that the EU's commitment to competition was protected by 13 other references within the draft treaty.
But within hours Mr Blair was backing down in the face of Treasury anger and warnings from business leaders that it could devastate the EU economy. Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the French move would "rip out the jewel in the EU's crown".
Mr Blair went back into battle and France, in what amounted to a diplomatic climbdown, later agreed to include a new protocol in the treaty enshrining the primacy of competition policy.
The rapid turnaround in the British position was a stark illustration of Mr Brown's growing power.
It proved that with less than a week to go before he takes over, he is now directing foreign policy from the Treasury.
It also revived doubts about Mr Blair's decision to leave his Chancellor at home and represent Britain alone at a vital summit just days before he is due to quit.
The sudden row over competition policy was described by one official as a "classic Franco-German stitch-up".
Mr Sarkozy, who has vowed to defend French industry from outside forces and is keen to promote big state-backed firms in the global economy, had secured a key change to the treaty text.
A sentence in the EU's objectives drafted to read "The Union shall establish an internal market where competition is free and undistorted" was shortened to end after the word "market", removing the vital reference to free competition.
Commission lawyers said this would destroy the EC's ability to enforce rules on mergers between large companies and sabotage the laws which block state subsidies to failing companies.
Big business issued stark warnings about a wider effect on confidence.
There were claims that Kim Darroch, Mr Blair's lead official on European issues, failed to spot the change when the German proposal was circulated on Tuesday night.
Mr Blair was initially willing to accept the change in the wording as a necessary compromise-in exchange for securing French backing for British demands in other areas.
But as business leaders, Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, and several other countries expressed concern at the sudden change in direction or EU economic policy, there were doubts in the British camp.
Treasury lawyers studied the draft text and warned it could damage the internal market. France agreed to include a new protocol in the treaty enshrining competition policy.
Despite that concession, the day of talks had not yet produced the sort of agreement that could be seen as a partial success for Mr Blair. EU leaders appeared willing though to accept the Prime Minister's four key "red lines" on home affairs, social security, foreign policy and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
In a break from the talks, Mr Blair told reporters: "We are making progress, so far as we are concerned, on the four key elements for the British position here."
Countries led by France backed his demands for a simplified "amending treaty" rather than a full-blown constitution. The summit, chaired by Germany in Brussels, was aimed at finding a replacement for the draft constitution killed off by voters in France and Holland in 2005.
The leaders were trying to clear the way for an inter-governmental conference later this year to agree the detail of the new treaty that will govern how the enlarged EU will be run.
It removes symbolic elements of the failed constitution, such as an EU flag and anthem.
But it retains proposals for a permanent EU president to replace the system in which member states rotate the chair every six months.
The summit also agreed on the job title, role and powers of the 27-nation bloc's future foreign policy representative, diplomats said.
The "High Representative of the European Union" will serve as vice-president of the executive European Commission. He will not have the title of "foreign minister".
If a deal is struck, Mr Brown will face intense pressure to put the treaty to a referendum.
But the Chancellor told the BBC: "What we have got to do is look at what comes out of these discussions.
"This is no longer a new constitution, it's an amending treaty. We didn't have a referendum on Maastricht, we didn't have one on Nice, we didn't have one on Amsterdam."
Reader views (24)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
And how many of those missing Poles were Jews helped to oblivion by their fellow countrymen...
- Concerned Citizen, Village, the world
It's funny how people keep bashing Labour for not keeping hospitals clean when it was the Conservatives who privatised hospital cleaning services. If Labour renationalised it the same people would be complaining.
- R J Tysoe, London
Look what is destroing our European Culture , the Cause................
Trevor is right, just look who allows everthing to go on . No one has the
GUTS to say enough is enough , 600 thousend public servants in 10 years, I cant believe it.
" LIBERALISM"
- Walter H Pothmann, kihei ,Hawaii
As a descendant of Polish immigrants it makes me incredibly proud to see the leaders of modern Poland take advantage of their freedom of speech. Germany terrorized Poland, beginning with the Blitzkrieg. No European nation or the US came to their defense until several years after 1939. Mr. Kacynski is speaking the truth. WWll was not just about the suffering of the Jews, Gypsies, and crippled. The people of Poland paid very a dear price in loss of land, destruction of infrastructure, death, torture, imprisonment and finally oppression under Communism for 40 years.
The other EU countries do not want us to reflect on the past. Because, in 1939-1940 they either rolled over for the Germans or joined their side. Poland fought back, as did the U.K. Those are your two leaders. They both deserve the deepest respect for their demands from the EU. Or, they should both stand independent of the EU.
- David, Portland USA
i am 84 years old, a german jewess who survived in holland and lived the 12 years of hell under the german reich.Never again, lets not forget
- Charlotte Erney, honolulu hawaii
I can see why the Polish are a little bitter and they should also show a bit of anger toward Soviet Russia. Stalin and Hitler were allies, and Stalin killed a lot of Polish people during his journey to Hell. We have a huge Polish population here in the US, and although the butt of a few tasteless jokes, they are the finest people on the face of the earth. As for Blair: he's a fine man, folks, and you put blame on him for things over which he has little control. Socialism is the problem, and the UK should turn away from that cancer soon or it will be too late.
- Charles T. Sherwin, pittsboro nc usa
Why are you lying?
It's about the voting system not about historical attack on Germany.
This British press dishonesty and outright lying is your national tradition, I guess.
- Pete, NYC
It would be easier to trust any of the reporting in this article if the picture titled "German tanks roll into Poland in the Second World War" wasn't actually "German armored cars rolling into North Africa". Not even close. Nice homework.
- Rich King, Poway, USA
Kaczynski does have a point. That 22% that was slaughtered was not equal across all age groups, it was mainly those who could put up a fight - coincidently the same group next in line to raise the next generation. I can see how that would have had a major affect upon their population. Examination of the population curves for the first 20 years after WW2 ought to prove or disprove the claim.
That said though, let's not forget the Iron Curtain that followed ...
- Mike, Boston
Dear Mr Kaczynski
Don't let's be beastly to the Germans
....
Though they've been a little naughty to the Czechs and Poles and Dutch
But I don't suppose those countries really minded very much
- R.F. Nacchio, Tewksbury, NJ USA
Stupid polacks, bomb them again germans and occupy them again that way you can have more votes. Most of them are allready in germany or on UK anyways and the ones that aren't is because they don't speak the lenguague, nothing like a forces occupation to get their lenguage skills up.
- Mike, Poland
Why do you guys need an EU treaty or constitution anyways? You've got the open borders and the open economic community. Why the drive to create a "federal" government and the unneccessary extra layer of bureaucracy and regulations that come along with it?
Politics and law making should be local (i.e. current nation-states). The EU should remain as an open economic union. This seems most reasonable to me. Most of my Spanish friends think this as well.
- Kurt9, Oregon, USA
Good show Poland! Today it seems what is "politically or diplomatically" correct is that view acceptable to Germany. 20 years earlier Poland was forced into "political" correctness with the Soviet Union's view of the world. Germany should be reminded the concept at hand is that of a European Union and not Greater Germania. The remark by Luxembourg's Premier is silly at best... 65 years ago Poland didn't look in the rear view mirror and only noticed the Mac Truck coming at her when it was too late.
- Brandon, London
I think the Poles are making a very good point about their WW2 losses. They could not be faulted for adding along with the majority of my generation in the UK who lived through WW2, that what we are really seeing with attempts to advance the European Constitution, is the Master Race once again attempting to control Europe. Rather surprisingly Switzerland, the country most central to European affairs, continues to cook its own goose and allows its public referanda for everything from membership of the EEC to immigration quotas and the cost of public utilities. Then they don't have a Blair.
- Robert, Hull, East Yorks.,
The Evening Standard would be well served to add a historian to their ranks before attempting to be "objective". Leaving aside the gross historical errors in their brief "recap" of Polish history during the war, the author really hits the mark with their revision of the Stalinist occupaion of the Eastern bloc nations- "...after a shift towards Stalinism following the war which led to years of totalitarian rule." A shift towards Stalinism, eh? That's akin to reporting that in the 19th century, Africa had "a shift towards British colonialism".
- Jack Hanley, Boulder, CO
Can we merge with Poland? They seem to have the right ideas, plus it's a very big country and global warming should make it quite pleasant in a few years.
- Ed, London
This is a revamp of a constitution that was rejected by the voters of two of Europe's largest countries (France and Holland) and was not put to the rest because they were expected to reject it. So why is it being put forward again. So much for democracy and the will of the people.
- Mick, London, England
We seem to forget that UK voters have no rights at all in Mr.Blair's eyes we are merely here to fund his jaunt into politics.
- Stuart, London
This is Tony Blair? The weakest willed Prime Minister we've ever had? The man who'd sell his own grandmother if he thought it'd make him look better? And he's standing up for the people of the UK? I refuse to believe it.
- Trevor Roll, London
The one thing you can count on his Blair's dishonesty.
He will stitch up the British public in a heartbeat.
Here is his legacy.600 thousand more public servants in his 10 years, and they can’t even keep our hospitals clean. New Labour, no shame!
- Sam Mcknight, Islamabad
Any deal would almost certainly involve at the very least an extension of QMV and hence a transfer of power from Westminster to Brussels. This is a constitutional matter that should only be allowed to happen with the consent of the British people.
- Andrew Turvey, Nottingham, England
It seems to me that the only reason that they would not put a treaty or whatever to a referendum is that the British people would not accept it. Am I stating the obvious? I voted to join the European Economic Community not necessarily the European Political Community.
- David Wickens, Burgess Hill
I think it is about time that there was a complete referendum on our inclusion within the EU.
A debate should be started on the benefits with regard to the EU and whether or not these outweigh all of the negatives that invade our everyday lives.
I honestly don’t know how beneficial the EU is. I do know that it fundamentally impact upon the ability of the UK to do business.
If after the debate, the UK decides that being a member of the EU is not beneficial, then we should pull out and make our own way.
I must admit that I am leaning that way already but that is mainly because I cannot see that the benefits are that strong.
- Nick, Bedford
As Daniel Hannan, Euro MP, sets out in this morning's Telegraph, Blair's four red lines represent matters that Mrs Merkel and the others will have no problem agreeing to. In fact, Mr Hannan indicates that they would have been agreed to with a wink and nudge months ago. What Mr Blair isn't mentioning is the "small" item of giving the EU "legal personality" which makes it a separate legal entity from the territories it represents. This is equivalent to creating a federal state with provinces and a central government. A constitution for a new "country" by any other name.
Blair is going to agree to what's on the table. What will be interesting is whether Gordon Brown will stand up and show leadership and give the British people a say on their citizenship.
I was born in Britain and am a British citizen. I don't want that changed to being a "European citizen" of a new country called the EU without having my say. There should be a referendum for all people in Britain to decide that issue. If a majority of the British people decide that the UK should become a province and that their citizenship should be changed to European, I for one will accept it. But I want my say.
- Phil Jones, London, UK
