Tony Blair has held talks with the European Commission’s incoming president, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. Discussions focused on economic reform and improving prosperity and security across Europe.
Read the press conference below:
Prime Minister:
Good Afternoon everyone. First of all I would like to welcome Jose back, this time in a new role as President-designate of the European Commission. As I think you know, at the time we were strongly supportive of him becoming President of the European Commission. Everything that he has done so far has confirmed to us that he is indeed the man to lead the European Commission through what will be a very challenging set of circumstances over the next few years. It is important that we drive through the economic reform agenda, it is important that we make sure that Europe takes an attitude towards regulation that is sensitive to the interests of business and the ordinary citizen, it is important also that Europe addresses some of the challenges on security that we face. And I have no doubt at all that the European Commission, under his leadership, will address these challenges in a way that is modern, that is bold and does its very best for the citizens of Europe. So I am delighted to have him here. We have obviously discussed all the range of issues in Europe that are there at the moment, and these future challenges coming up, and I look forward very much over the coming period of time to continuing what was always a strong working relationship when he was Prime Minister of Portugal, and I am sure will be equally strong now he is the President of the European Commission, and welcome here.
Mr Barroso:
Thank you very much Tony. It is for me a pleasure to be here with the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair, a good friend and someone who can give me a very important input, because it is true that the United Kingdom has been living in all the reflection that we are having in Europe about the Lisbon Agenda, economic reform, so it was very important for me to receive once again his opinion, the way he sees the priorities for Europe, and we are very much thinking along the same lines. I think it is very important in this particular moment to have a reform-minded Commission, we need to adapt in this very difficult world now, we need to have a competitive Europe so that we can have growth and jobs so that we can deliver to our citizens. One of the priorities of my Commission will be precisely to reconnect the European people with European institutions so that we can deliver in terms of growth, in terms of jobs. For that we need economic reform and the United Kingdom, under the leadership of Tony Blair, has achieved a lot. So all the input he can bring is very important and therefore I look forward to this constructive and very friendly relationship. It was indeed a very constructive meeting, the one we had now and the others we are going to have during the next years I hope.
Question:
I will try and put this in a European context, if I can. Given that we seem to be saving less than a lot of our counterparts in Europe, particularly in France and Germany, what is the solution to the pensions crisis? Is it to compel people to save more, work longer, or is it simply a matter of putting a bit on tax?
Prime Minister:
I think that was only very vaguely anything to do with the European Union. It is a Europe-wide problem but it is important we tackle it in a British way, but I think Alan Johnson has really been dealing with that.
Question:
Mr Barroso, do you still have confidence in Mr Buttiglione and also Mr Kovac, and do you have a Plan B if your team is not approved by the European parliament?
Mr Barroso:
Yes, I have full confidence in those two members of the Commission. I think they are very able persons with a lot of political and intellectual experience and they can give a great contribution for our project. As you said, it is not yet the formal position of the European Parliament, of course I have all respect for the European Parliament, I will await the formal position of the European Parliament, but I have to tell you that I have full confidence, very specifically about the remarks made about Mr Batigliani. Let me tell you one thing very frankly. One thing is the personal beliefs of the members of the Commission, the other thing, differently sometimes, is the policies they are going to implement, and in matters of a sexual orientation I want to be very clear. My Commission is very liberal in that matter. We believe and respect different sexual orientations and there will be no discrimination about it. That is our policy, definitely, we have no discrimination in regard to that point. So I think the same tolerance we should apply to different views that some different people in Europe have about those issues, and sometimes they are sensitive issues. So I hope that the European Parliament will confirm their confidence in the Commission, the same confidence they have shown when dealing with my own role as President of this Commission.
Question:
Could you just tell us about the discussions with Mr Barroso and where you see relations with Europe at the moment. Clearly there have been a lot of fraught problems, particularly over Iraq, how would you characterise relations now, given that we are taking over the EU Presidency next year, and of course the G8 Presidency as well?
Prime Minister:
I do think that the new President of the European Commission gives us a chance to develop an agenda which is not an agenda that is right because
Britain happens to agree with it, I think it is right for Europe too. It is about driving through economic reform, making sure we make jobs a key priority, and it is also not about in any shape or form abandoning the social programme for Europe, but just recognising that has to be done in a different way for today’s world. And I think there is every possibility with the new Commission that that agenda can be taken forward, and I think that will make a difference too if people in Britain here see that happening to British attitudes towards Europe as well. So it is important for Britain, it is important for Europe.
Question:
When the President of the Commission was being appointed, there was a bit of a battle over who it would be. Do you sense that there is still a divide, if that is the right word, between old Europe and new Europe?
Prime Minister:
No. I think for a start it was a unanimous appointment, and of course you always have a certain amount of positioning before a decision like that is taken, but it was a unanimous appointment and I know that all members of the European Council want to give the new President of the Commission every support. No, I think we are all trying to deal with the same challenges and same problems in Europe, and the important thing is to reconcile the need for economic efficiency in an era of globalisation with people’s quite natural and rightful desire for social justice, for standards of social protection, of decent public services, of help for people when they are in need, which is part of the European ethos and values. So I think that is where if you like some of these issues come together and I think there is a chance with this leadership of the Commission that they can set out a programme for Europe that reconciles the economic and the social and recognises that when for example we are investing in skills and in education, rather than over-regulation, we may be doing more in a modern world for job protection than some of the programmes that might have been more relevant 20 or 30 years ago.
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