Blair's European Moment

...Things happen, or do not happen when they should...

...The proposed EU constitution—a staggering 230 pages concerning all aspects of government and law—had been touted as the key to Europe's becoming an integrated superpower...

...and every day the British have to contend with a deficient public transportation system...

...Unlike some here, including London's Mayor Ken Livingstone, he has not sought to mitigate the horror of their crime by asking for "understanding" of their possible motivations—e.g...

...As the public rallied around him in the wake of the attacks, even the normally caustic opposition Conservative Party leader Michael Howard rose in Parliament to praise the way Blair "articulated the nation's sorrow...

...Bold as his arguments may be, building momentum for reform among the member nations will not be easy—as the hostility that met the EU constitution suggests...

...Blair's image had, in fact, been on the way to recovery before the July 7 atrocities killed 52 people and wounded dozens more...

...Their efforts backfired when it became apparent that neither the French nor the German leader was currently enjoying the support of his own electorate...

...It is no use," he said upon taking the EU post, "us trying to compete in the tough, changing world unless we are prepared to make the necessary changes...

...In the columns of the conservative Daily Telegraph, Right-wing pundit Ferdinand Mount, who remains tenaciously critical of the prime minister, admitted, "He's back...

...Central to the debate will be the role of the welfare state...

...Prime Minister Tony Blair's personal response to the situation has been widely commended as calm and resolute, neither excessive nor deficient...

...The prime minister's international reputation as a man who gets things done was further enhanced by the surprise choice of London as the site for the 2012 Olympic Games...

...Television mimics targeted his frequent pauses and from-the-heart speech mannerisms for ridicule...

...The British fishing industry, for instance, has been hurt by obeying EU rules meant to conserve North Sea fish stocks that French and Spanish fishermen regularly ignore...

...He has dealt forthrightly with the fact that the bombers were homegrown members of Britain's large resident Muslim community...

...For the first time in half a century, the historic movement toward the political and economic unification of Western Europe suffered a serious blow...

...The full benefits of industrial and commercial integration, he has held, can only be achieved through a more open system...

...On the leadership level, should Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union Party replace Social Democrat Schröder as chancellor in Germany, the prime minister is almost certain to find her more sympathetic to his ideas...

...A gadfly in the European Union (EU), Blair has urged less regulation of the way citizens of its member states conduct their lives and fewer restrictions on businesses and the labor market...

...Yet his subsequent remarkable rebound did not begin with forgiveness for past missteps or his response to the bombings...

...Its thousands of civil servants, spared effective accountability, have long been endowed with legislative and executive powers and have drafted 80,000 pages of laws governing the way people go about their livesjobs and businesses in member countries...

...It has been pointed out that UK intelligence was able to identify something in Iraq that was not there (weapons of mass destruction), but was unable recognize a genuine menace at home...

...Lately, however, he has made it plain he hopes to achieve more than that...

...The slump may be compounded by the Islamists' threats, which have already taken a toll on the tourist industry...

...After Britain assumed its six-month presidency of the EU on July 1, Blair made his intentions clear when he called for a special summit in the autumn...

...With Chirac and Schröder in trouble at home and Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi facing challenges to his continued leadership as well, the once derided Blair suddenly emerged as the only major national leader in Western Europe who could speak with unclouded confidence about the future...

...Ironically, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, long blunt in their criticism of Blair, were initially responsible for his rehabilitation...

...He challenged the dominance of the French-German entente within the 25-member EU, blaming the two countries for the organization's stumbling on its way to becoming a more vigorous world power...

...Blair must contend, too, with the EU bureaucracy entrenched in Brussels...

...But there is popular resistance everywhere to reducing state-guaranteed programs that people have come to take for granted...

...In his new incarnation as an international statesman, Blair has been displaying a spirited sense of purpose about Europe's future and its relation to the rest of the world...

...Though substantial, Britain's entitlements—in job and pension protections, early retirement and health care—are not as extensive as those in most of Western Europe...

...others have been disparaged as micromanaging, stultifying and petty...

...than with the other EU members, and presumes to picture Britain as the bridge between the U.S...

...Just as he turned the hidebound Labor Party of old into the modern "New Labor," stripping away what remained of its Socialist traditions and aspirations, his objective now is to bring about a similar transformation that will create a "New Europe...

...they were late to comprehend the threat of violence long posed by Britain-based Islamists...

...Once the summer's preoccupation subsides, pressure will also mount for Blair to confront a host of troubling domestic matters: The primary and secondary school systems are in confusion...

...Bitterness is expressed over some member governments getting away with flouting EU regulations they do not care for, while elsewhere strict adherence is demanded...

...In addition, growing numbers of people across the EU are, like Blair, raising questions about its functions and operations...

...Accordingly, the economic philosophies and practices of member countries will be evaluated...

...Hartley's novel The Go-Between has a special resonance in Britain these days...

...This was apparentwhen he hosted the G8 summit of industrial powers in Edinburgh in July and, as he promised, pushed through a substantial aid program for Africa...

...Blair wants his EU counterparts to examine how "relevant" their generous benefit cultures remain in the era of globalization and international competition...

...An unfamiliar nervous sense of foreboding is in the air, noticeable particularly on subway trains and buses, where Middle Eastern- and Asian-looking young male passengers wearing backpacks or bulky coats have become objects of suspicion...

...A measure of national cockiness was felt in the UK at a moment when the European Union appeared to be facing a precarious crossroads...

...As the arguments became public, the French grumbled aloud about Blair's demands for rethinking the massive EU budget, 40 per cent of which props up French agriculture...

...When his leadership was being roundly censured last winter, the prime minister made an emotional plea to the British people to forgive his shortcomings...

...Together with the Germans and others, they objected to his close alliance with the U.S., sought to dilute Britain's veto power, and tried to isolate the country as a pariah state within the organization...

...In turn, Chirac and Schröder accused Blair of sabotaging the EU's development, citing his resistance to greater centralization of economic and international policies affecting all member countries...

...Not only did they fail to prevent the terror attacks...

...The reflexive immediate support for him not withstanding, Blair may even face a backlash over public safety in the new climate of insecurity...

...The failure of offending governments to pay EU-imposed fines for infractions is also chronic...

...Norman Gelb reports regularly for The New Leader on British affairs...

...Hopes many harbored for the rise of a United States of Europe have been put on hold...

...By then, some of his detractors had already compared him to Thatcher and Churchill, citing his lofty international stature...

...On the Left, a columnist for the Guardian newspaper, which had been clamoring for his resignation, called him "the leading statesman in the world...

...Blair's authority in the world has never stood higher...

...He was reviled as untrustworthy and incompetent...

...By contrast, voters in France rejected the proposed EU constitution Chirac had been desperately promoting—one of a series of political setbacks suggesting the French president is increasingly a lame duck...

...Though still a relatively young 52 after eight years as prime minister (Margaret Thatcher was 54 when she entered the job...

...Here in Britain joblessness has been low and inflation has been under control...

...High on the agenda will be assessing how much progress has—or has not—been made toward the EU's long-term goal of becoming a counterweight to U.S...

...In terms of public opinion, that is quite a turnaround...

...The only reforms it appears to tolerate are those it formulates itself: A program is under way to hire additional public relations personnel to explain the successes of the EU to those who have not fully appreciated them...

...Broadcast interviewers tested how far they could go in questioning him before their interrogations became downright rude...

...Despite taunts that Blair prefers to be cozier with the US...

...Londoners could cope with the damage the terrorists did to the underground facilities because they have long been resigned to the unreliability of their subway and commuter train networks...

...People here are urged to get on with their lives as they did before the terrorist bombings committed and attempted in London this summer, but those events and the threat still looming have sorely tested the proverbial British unflappability...

...violent crime has increased across the land...

...The British Labor Party also suffered reverses in elections here last May, but it retained a solid majority in Parliament, earning Blair a third temi in office, an unprecedented achievement for the party...

...Many regulations—on food and work safety, for example—are distinctly worthwhile...

...The European Commission in Brussels in particular has come under increasing scrutiny...

...Instead, he quickly gathered leaders of Britain's Muslim community and drew from them belated public recognition that those who commit or promote such outrages for whatever reasons must be exposed as criminals, Muslim or not...

...economic power, and responding to the new challenges from India and China...

...But the economy slipped into a downturn before the country became a terrorist target...

...It has long weathered charges that it is too powerful, hugely overmanned, exorbitantly expensive to maintain, and insufficiently vigilant about corruption in its midst...

...But this summer he has appeared "reinvigorated" to London Times correspondent Peter Riddell, and—though he is solemn when dealing with domestic security matters—his Cabinet members are said to have noticed a spring return to his step...

...Winston Churchill was 64), Blair seemed strung out, visibly aging under the weight of office...

...Former Conservative MP Michael Portillo attests that it goes further than simple fear: "Britain has been stunned to discover there are people living here who loathe this country...

...and the EU, he has always insisted that he wants his country to be at the heart of Europe...

...Former government ministers who served under him lined up to scorn his record, especially his decision to join the United States in the invasion of Iraq and ongoing military operations there...

...As late as this past winter polls indicated that a large majority of Britons no longer had much faith in his leadership...

...Its rejection in référendums held by France and then Holland—two nations perceived to be at the Union's nerve center— has been a profound shock for the organization...

...Even if the need for refashioning the European Union is widely recognized, Blair knows from personal experience on his home grounds that this does not assure a mandate to push the process forward...

...Still, the praise the prime minister has garnered for his handling of terrorism may be diluted by disclosures about the shortcomings of his intelligence and security services...

...the National Health Service is strapped for resources...

...anger over the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the "occupation" of Iraq, or Islamophobia in Britain...

...Schroder has been similarly weakened by regional election defeats and opinion polls indicating he is heading for a humiliating loss in Germany's nationwide elections in September...

...Several EU countries have misgivings about the organization's growing insularity...

...It is generally believed tJiat Blair swung the selection to the British capital over the favorite, Paris, by flying to Shanghai, where the International Olympic Committee was deliberating, and personally lobbying most of its 100 members...