Posted on 06/04/2005 8:10:53 PM PDT by lainie
Tony Blair has given up on Europe as an issue worth fighting for, senior allies of the Prime Minister have told The Sunday Telegraph.
A leading Blairite cabinet minister made the admission last night as the European Union descended into deeper turmoil, with doubts surfacing over the future of the single currency.
Mr Blair, who will seek to shift the focus of his administration on to poverty in the Third World this week during talks with President Bush, has told his closest allies: "Africa is worth fighting for. Europe, in its present form, is not."
The signal is an astonishing U-turn for a leader who said three years ago that the euro was "our destiny" and who announced a British referendum by proclaiming: "Let the battle be joined." But one of his closest allies said that Mr Blair no longer believed that putting Britain at the heart of Europe could be his legacy: "Europe is back to the drawing board. Africa will become more important."
Mr Blair flies to Washington tomorrow to try to secure support for proposals to tackle poverty ahead of next month's G8 summit in Gleneagles. But the Prime Minister is unlikely to be able to divert attention completely from the chaos over Europe's future.
President Chirac of France and Germany's Chancellor Schröder held a summit in Berlin last night after the No votes in France and Holland on the constitution.
Yet the crisis widened beyond the document alone, with a media offensive being mounted to bolster the euro after German officials and an Italian minister openly discussed its possible demise. In the first rumblings of a call for the franc to be reinstated, Nicolas Dupont-Aignant, a member of Mr Chirac's ruling UMP party, said: "France, Italy and Germany would be in a better state without the euro. However, I don't believe we should ditch it now.
"But either it is reformed, and the central European Bank kick-starts growth by lowering interest rates and pursuing a more American-style monetary policy, or the euro will explode in mid-air."
The governor of France's central bank, however, rushed to the euro's defence. Christian Noyer said that the currency was "in no way under threat" following its fall in value since the No votes of the past seven days. He dismissed as "absurd" the idea of a temporary withdrawal from the euro by individual states.
"The euro is a solid currency which brings us a lasting guarantee of stable prices and thus the maintenance of purchasing power for our wages and savings," he told Le Parisien newspaper.
The markets have been slowly adjusting to the possibility of the break-up of the euro, with the spread between government bonds in different countries widening.
Last night, John Redwood, the leading eurosceptic Tory MP, said: "You can't have a single currency without a single government. They are in a mess because they have only done half of it and they are now discovering in a painful way what that means."
The No campaign in Britain will launch a campaign tomorrow demanding a referendum on any aspects of the constitution that leaders might attempt to salvage. It will also unveil 46 new business backers, including Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer.
An ICM poll for the No group found that 81 per cent of voters say that it would be unacceptable to bring in any of the proposals without a referendum in Britain first.
- Additional reporting by Henry Samuel
Leni
PU on the EU?
I have no doubt the money went into the pockets of folks it wasn't supposed to, all around the world, probably. How could it be any other way? And now they want to do it again, and they'll raise more millions. It boggles the mind.
Why the big rush to corner Africa?
Remains to be seen. I hope it's good news.
This should be the most important issue for our government to address. But it isn't, or at least if it is, the heart of the problem isn't being addressed. Unfortunately, no real immigration reform or serious border security will happen until a tragedy on a massive scale happens. After all, the attack on 9-11 what it took to get serious about Bin Laden and the unchecked threats in the Middle East.
I honestly believe any lesson we could have learned on that day has already been forgotten by our PC, afraid-to-offend, "tolerant" population.
Would this be a good time to short the euro?
Short selling the euro. What's Soros doing tonight?
Great Post!
Great PING!
I'm enjoying this way too much!
Indeed...
"And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end..."
Daniel 2:42-44
The bible talks about the man who destroys wonderfully through peace!
Mr.Blair and the other world leaders better organize a world peace conference toute suite.
"Why the big rush to corner Africa?"
Maybe Blair, being unable to achieve a united Europe, now wants to reestablish the glory of England by re-colonizing Africa.
Buck up Tony, it's better this way.
The list is endless. Blair's not stupid. So he must be doing it for repayment or publicity.
Even Reagan did seemingly irrational things to appease one group or another.
Italy's muttering about putting the lira back in circulation...for some reason Italians have lost faith in the euro. Another nail in the coffin.
Africa the new focus? Bottomless pit is right!
'Focus now shifts to Africa.' Last week, the BBC did a piece on the G-8 conference -- the main thrust was that Europe had done their bit and more to help the benighted Africans. Time for the richest nations to step up: Guess who? (America, Japan, and India.) But of course, the big bad boy is Uncle Sam. We don't give enough, do enough, grovel enough, etc.. Now that Europe is falling apart, they'll look to the US to solve the world's problems, and in the next breath blame us for poking our nose where it isn't wanted.
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