Zooropa...vorspring ducrh technik,
Zooropa...be all that you can be
Be a winner, eat to get slimmer...dst. Kayaknya lagu U2 masih menjadi impian
buat Europe!
WHAT A BUMMER!!! Mari kita lihat kelanjutannya.
June 14, 2005
Europe turmoil as treaty collapses
By Philip Webster, David Charter and Anthony Browne
TONY BLAIR and Jacques Chirac are set for an icy Paris showdown today after the
Prime Minister accused the French President of living in the past and France
lost its fight to save the ill-fated constitutional treaty.
As their dispute over Britain’s EU budget rebate and the constitution took
relations to their lowest point for years, Mr Blair responded to M Chirac’s
refusal to hold a joint press conference with him today by letting it be known
that he would stage one on his own at the British Embassy in the French
capital.
NI_MPU('middle');In a fresh twist last night, Mr Blair was told publicly by
Peter Mandelson, his close ally, that he must be prepared to reform the British
rebate as part of a deeper rethink about the EU budget.
In an intervention that some ministers described as unhelpful, the EU Trade
Commissioner and fervent European pre-empted future negotiations by saying that
it was wrong to ask the poorer accession states to pay for any part of the
British rebate. He also admonished ministers for their “neo-Thatcherite” tone
in dealing with Brussels, and said that it should change when Britain assumes
the EU presidency next month if it wanted to make progress.
The pressure on Mr Blair mounted last night when Gerhard Schröder, the German
Chancellor, called on him to compromise in the budget dispute, but ruled out
any big changes in the agricultural budget before 2013. He backed M Chirac’s
stand that the deal on agriculture done in 2002 could not be reopened, as Mr
Blair had suggested.
Herr Schröder said: “We need to get our act together and strike a fair
compromise where everybody needs to chip in.”
There was, however, a boost for Mr Blair when Herr Schröder backed Britain’s
desire to see overall spending capped at 1 per cent of the EU’s gross national
income.
Mr Blair and M Chirac’s confrontation comes as the fallout from the French and
Dutch rejections of the constitution began threatening EU policies across the
board. Ministers shelved plans to press on with the ratification process,
Britain intends to use its EU presidency to demand a radical overhaul of the
Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), and several member states have begun
questioning the pace of EU enlargement before Turkish membership talks.
M Chirac’s move over the press briefing was an unprecedented rebuff for a
visiting prime minister. But Mr Blair, in Moscow for talks with President
Putin, eschewed diplomatic niceties by directly attacking the French leader’s
intransigence. He accused M Chirac, by focusing attention on the rebate, of
closing his ears to the message from his voters when they rejected the
constitution.
Mr Blair raised eyebrows on arriving in Berlin last night by going straight
into lengthy talks with Angela Merkel, the conservative opposition leader who
is well placed to defeat Herr Schröder in the general election in September.
The Prime Minister appeared to be heading for victory in his efforts to get the
constitution kicked into the longest possible grass. Foreign ministers
yesterday abandoned plans to approve the constitution by the end of 2006, and
left it to individual countries to decide whether to hold their referendums.
“The context of this discussion is one in which two countries have now voted
against the EU constitution,” Mr Blair said. “Why? Because people in Europe did
not feel that sufficient attention was being paid to their concerns about
Europe and its future.
“Now, when we come to discussing the future financing of the EU, let us bear
that in mind. And let us realise, therefore, that we cannot discuss the
existence of the British rebate unless we discuss the whole of the financiang
of the European Union.
“It is not that we approach this simply saying, ‘Britain says no and that is an
end to the discussion.’ We are happy to have this discussion. But it has got to
be on a realistic basis and it cannot be on the basis that ignores the
unfairness that gave rise to the existence of the British rebate.
“The future financing and reforms of Europe must mean fundamental changes, in
particular in respect of the Common Agricultural Policy and the amount of the
budget that it takes up each year.”
In Paris there was talk of bad blood between the two leaders. Philippe
Douste-Blazy, the new French Foreign Minister, said that Britain had no
alternative to dropping its refusal to trim the budget rebate that it has
enjoyed since 1984.
He said that the crisis in Europe caused by the French and Dutch rejection of
the EU Constitution made it vital to show that the Union could settle its next
six-year spending plan at this week's summit. “We are more than ever condemned
to a compromise. The British must take into consideration the circumstances in
which they obtained their 'cheque' in 1984. They were in serious recession at
the time. Today, their growth is strong.”
Mr Blair is expected to tell M Chirac that he will not hesitate to wield
Britain’s veto even if all 24 other EU states press him to drop the rebate. He
will only consent to reduce it if France accepts cuts to the CAP, which
benefits France far more than any other state.
While most other EU states dislike the rebate, M Chirac has made a personal
cause out of combating it over the past two weeks. His aggressive approach is
seen by diplomats and some French politicians as a diversion from the
humiliation that voters inflicted on him in the referendum on May 29.
WHO PAYS WHAT
Net contribution to the EU budget per capita 2003
France £19
UK £42
Common Agricultural Policy receipts per capita 2003
France £117
UK £45
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