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9/22/05

FT.com: UK achieved ‘very little' in presidency

FT.com

UK achieved ‘very little' in presidency

Valery Giscard d'Estaing, former French president, on Thursday joined a chorus of criticism of Britain's presidency of the European Union, claiming it had so far achieved “very little”. Almost half way through the six-month presidency, Tony Blair is accused of failing to provide the leadership needed to drag Europe out of its political crisis. The discontent has been building for some time, with claims that he has failed to lead a political debate on Europe's future and is not coming up with new ideas to solve the EU's acrimonious budget wrangle. Mr Giscard, who led the drafting of the moribund EU constitution, said: “We are now at the end of September. What was the contribution of the British presidency up to now? Practically very little.” He did not blame Mr Blair for the lack of action, as he had been rightly distracted by the need to tackle the terrorist threat to Britain. But, he said, the lacklustre presidency illustrated the need for a full-time EU president a key proposal in the constitutional treaty.

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