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Blair Takes Helm at EU, Charts New Vision
 British Prime Minister Tony Blair took over the European Union's six-month rotating presidency Friday and said he saw little chance of rescuing the EU constitution after its rejection last month by French and Dutch voters. Blair said he intended to fight for a new vision of the EU, one that equips Europeans to compete in a global economy and modernizes expensive French-style social and worker protections. Blair said that he will host an EU summit to assess the direction and speed of European integration.The purpose of the autumn summit was to review how Europe's treasured social model is economically hobbling the continent and to see if the 25 leaders can rekindle public enthusiasm about the EU's future. But no specific date for the summit was set. Blair said he will ask the leaders to revisit their goal to make Europe the world's most dynamic economy by 2010, an undertaking launched in 2000 but one that has missed many targets already. He said the French and Dutch charter rejection reflected an ill-defined but deep-seated sense among the bloc's population that the EU is out of touch with public opinion and not acting on sensitive issues such as immigration, crime and security. Posted by: Fred 2005-07-02 |
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