Britain's assumption of the six-month European Union presidency presents it with challenges and opportunities which are more than usually significant for holders of the rotating office. A successful presidency will do much to confirm the new thrust of Labour's more positive European policy, retrieving ground and goodwill lost during the latter years of Conservative rule.
If this is to be accomplished effectively it will be necessary above all to avoid the temptation commonly faced by large states of trying to use the presidency to promote national ambitions and priorities. At this sensitive juncture in Britain's relations with its European partners a studied disinterestedness will be the best means of pursuing British interests, restoring its influence at the heart of the EU system. For this reason Mr Blair's government is fortunate that so much of its own agenda coincides with what it inherits from previous presidencies, including the Irish one in the latter half of 1996.
Many of the issues have been spelled out in traditional manner during the first week in office. They include further progress in completing the single market - notably, it is expected, by initiatives in the fields of energy, financial services and aviation and by effective implementation of directives on the liberalisation of electricity and telecommunications.
Employment policy, as defined at the special EU summit last November, also largely coincides with the Labour government's emphasis on flexible labour markets and employability. Fighting crime and drugs by cross-national means and several environmental initiatives are also priorities. Successfully pursued, they can do much to flesh out what has become a recurrent theme of British Labour ministers - the need to bring the EU's political practice and rhetoric closer to its peoples.
Britain's strong diplomatic skills will be brought to bear on the EU's growing foreign policy agenda. Enlargement negotiations are set to start under its presidency with six fast-track states, and a complex process of reassuring five other candidates will also be put in train. The most tricky issue will be to convince Turkey to participate fully in the European Conference to be held in March for all the candidate states and to overcome the human rights and political objections preventing that state from inclusion on the established list of candidates for accession. The Middle East and Algeria are also likely to be difficult issues. Several trade disputes with the United States will preoccupy British ministers and officials.
Undoubtedly the greatest challenge they face will be to manage the transition to the single currency effectively. According to the Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, it is better that a non-participating state is charged with the task of chairing the meeting on May 1st to decide who is in and out of EMU. Britain's relations with Europe will, nevertheless, be determined above all in coming years by whether it eventually joins. The omens are generally positive, as ministers assure visitors that sterling will shadow the euro, despite continuing popular scepticism. But the British currency is artificially strong and seems bound to come down, when and if the dollar does and in response to competitive pressures. Given Ireland's exposure and vulnerability to this adjustment, how it is handled will be seen as the acid test of Britain's new European policies.