British Prime Minister Tony Blair came to Parliament in June to report on the Cardiff summit, and the six months of the British Presidency. Parliament's assessment of the British Presidency was no more than lukewarm. A resolution commanding multi-party support did little more than "take note" of intended areas for action over CAP and regional fund reforms in the run-up to enlargement, and a new strategy to tackle the threat of drugs.
The resolution did, however, welcome progress in tackling unemployment, and there was praise for British efforts to break the impasse in the Middle East, as well as appreciation of action taken to secure peace in Northern Ireland.
There was no doubting Mr Blair's enthusiasm and support for European integration. He was keen to emphasise the need for reforms, to bring the EU closer to the citizen and to make the European ideal attractive to the young who had not grown up under the threat of the Cold War.
Genuine concern
He recognised real concerns amongst genuine supporters of European integration about centralisation, bureaucracy and an economic policy governed by regulation. He put on record his opposition to state control of industry, preferring instead to see governments playing a positive enabling role to help businesses to prosper in the global economy. The "European social model" was also due for reform, he said. Political reforms should concentrate on reassuring citizens that their national identity was not under threat.
There were a number of successes of the British Presidency, he maintained, emphasising that the successful launch of the single currency, as seen by the reaction of the markets, was no mean achievement. And on the Agenda 2000 programme of CAP and regional fund reforms, he frankly admitted that he would have liked to see more progress. He added that fixing a deadline for agreement of March 1999 would at least concentrate the minds of the national governments. On foreign policy issues, where he came in for criticism from MEPs for siding too much with the Americans, Mr Blair countered by saying it was important to maintain a close Atlantic alliance in view of the isolationist trends in some quarters on Capitol Hill. He emphasised that the UK did contact other EU states over Iraq.
The reaction of MEPs was that the Cardiff Summit was more of a "stocktaking" exercise rather than a forum for major decisions. Europe People's Party leader Wilfried Martens (B, EPP) welcomed the efforts of the British Presidency to put a "human face" on EU affairs. But both Mr Martens and Gijs de Vries (Nl, ELDR) reserved their criticisms for the attacks on the Commission, notably by Germany at Cardiff. In fact the Commission should be praised for upholding European law in defiance of Germany, said Mr De Vries, taking the German government to task for contesting a European Court ruling defending citizens' right to benefit from freedom of movement.