British Prime Minister Tony Blair returns to the European Parliament four months after winning over the sceptical assembly with his vision for Europe, having achieved little yet of real substance as EU president since the failed summit in June threw the EU into crisis.
He will face questioning from an assembly demanding to know what he has done to resolve the bitter row over the EU's long-term budget, blocked notably by Britain's refusal to surrender its jealously guarded rebate.
The lawmakers might also want to know what has become of the "period of reflection" about Europe's future, after French and Dutch voters rejected the EU's first-ever constitution last year.
His eagerly awaited speech in Strasbourg, to be given alongside Britain's Minister for Europe Douglas Alexander yesterday afternoon, comes on the eve of an informal EU summit at Hampton Court, near London.
The gathering was originally called to debate Europe's future but it is now meant to tackle the "challenges of globalization," and Blair's EU partners will be looking for clues of what that might mean in his address.
"What we hope to achieve at Hampton Court is an overall strategic consensus on the direction for Europe, and then to use that consensus to shape the hard work of the next two months," his spokesman said on Tuesday.
He said the 2007-2013 budget, also held up by France's refusal to renegotiate the Union's costly farm subsidy system, would not be discussed, but left for the next formal summit in Brussels in December.
In his Hampton Court invitation to EU heads of state and government, Blair wrote: "I know that a number of colleagues are concerned to know how the presidency plans to take forward the future financing negotiations."
"I will make every effort personally to achieve it by then, including through personal contact with each of you," he said.
Meanwhile, French President Jacques Chirac wants the EU to create a US$12 billion fund that could eventually double European spending on research to address what he called the urgent threat of international competition.
Chirac spelled out his proposal, an apparent conciliatory gesture to Blair, in a wide-ranging article published yesterday in newspapers across the EU before today's EU summit outside London.
In a sign of strains to come, Chirac was less accommodating on other issues that have divided EU leaders in the past -- Britain's EU budget rebate and proposals to cut generous farm subsidies that benefit French farmers.
France would not budge on demands that Britain give up the rebate, worth some US$6.8 billion this year, he said, adding that leaders must agree on the bloc's 2007-2013 budget by an end-of-year summit to revive public confidence.
"We can succeed in December if everyone shows their spirit of solidarity and responsibility," Chirac said in the article, published in France's Le Figaro newspaper.
"France has already widely played its part in the development of a final agreement," Chirac said, referring to a 2002 EU agreement on farm subsidies, which Paris has refused to re-negotiate.
Separately, Chirac noted: "France will never accept seeing Europe reduced to a simple free trade zone."
Blair says giving up the rebate must go hand-in-hand with cuts in EU agricultural subsidies -- money Blair says would be better spent on research and innovation to make the EU more competitive.
In an apparent gesture to Blair, Chirac will propose the increased spending on research -- but without increasing the EU's common budget and without cuts in agricultural subsidies.
"France proposes mobilizing the European Investment Bank to double the capacity of research," Chirac said, outlining a plan that would have the EU's financing institution create a US$12 billion fund.
The fund would leverage public and private financing, which "would allow an additional 30 billion euros [US$36 billion] of investment in research projects" -- thereby doubling the current spending.
"Our objective is simple: to give Europe back its dynamism," Chirac said. "It has all the assets to be at front of the global economy. But, faced with international competition, there is urgency."
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also