Britain is being attacked on all sides largely with French plans to dominate the City of London and Brown is being flattered and groomed to keep him in No:10 till the EU Lisbon Treaty is in force. Then he’ll be discarded and Britain will be wrecked
Christina
THE TIMES 6.7.09
Gordon Brown helped by European leaders keen to ratify Lisbon treaty
Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent; Charles Bremner in Paris
European leaders are so desperate for Gordon Brown to stay in power until after the Lisbon treaty comes into force that they are willing to make compromises to shore up his political position, The Times has learnt.
The Prime Minister will be able to test the limits of this new power today when he travels to Evian in France with Lord Mandelson for a one-day summit with President Sarkozy. Four days later he will meet other European heads of government, alongside President Obama, at the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy.
The most powerful figure in French foreign policy has already showered praise on Mr Brown, singling out his invention of the expression “entente formidable” as a sign of the two countries’ closeness. Jean-David Levitte, President Sarkozy’s chief adviser on foreign policy, called it inspired and an improvement on “entente cordiale” which he called “a bit minimal and old-fashioned-sounding.” He also expressed regret about David Cameron’s decision to take the Conservatives out with the main centre-right grouping in the Europe Parliament, the EPP.
Diplomatic sources told The Times that Mr Brown’s position with European leaders is enhanced because they fear that a leadership challenge and early election could sink the treaty, due to come into force by Christmas. The Conservatives are committed to a referendum if they are elected before it is ratified.
Mr Brown will use the summit to challenge the French President over asylum-seekers at Calais, as well as discussing nuclear power, Anglo-French collaboration on big infrastructure projects and progress towards a new environmental settlement in Copenhagen this year. [But nothing about saving the City of London ? -cs]
Diplomatic sources have told The Times that Mr Brown’s negotiating position with other European leaders is enhanced because they fear that a leadership challenge and early general election this yearcould sink the treaty, due to come into force by Christmas. The Conservatives are committed to a referendum on Lisbon if they are elected before it is ratified.
.If the public were to vote no, in line with opinion polls, the European Union Amendment Act 2008, by which the Lisbon Treaty was approved, will be suspended and repealed, which European leaders believe would plunge the EU into crisis.
Four countries have yet to approve the treaty. Irish voters rejected it last year but are expected to vote yes in a second referendum in October. The President of the Czech Republic has not given the treaty his assent, although diplomats regard this as less of a stumbling block. Germany and Poland have also not deposited the “instruments of ratification” in Rome — the final stage of approving the treaty — but these hurdles are believed to be largely formalities.
Although European diplomats will not compromise their negotiating “red lines” for Mr Brown’s political position, they will be willing to shape the agenda to make it more palatable for a domestic British audience.
This could include, they suggested, prioritising discussion of the EU’s green agenda in future meetings.
President Sarkozy’s team have been showering praise on Gordon Brown and on the state of Franco-British relations. The chemistry between the two men is said to be exceedingly good with Mr Levitte has talked in glowing terms of the “all-important human factor” in their rapport. Understanding between the two historic European powers has reached a state of unprecedented harmony, said Mr Levitte.
Asked about Mr Sarkozy’s relations with David Cameron, Sarkozy’s adviser says that the two know one another well.
However, he added: “Nicolas Sarkozy regrets that the UK Conservatives decided to leave the PPE group in the European Parliament.” He went out of his way to stress that Sarkozy's full attention was devoted to Gordon Brown as Prime Minister and leader of the nation.
As well as Lord Mandelson, Mr Brown will be accompanied in France by David Miliband, foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, energy and environment secretary, Bob Ainsworth, defence secretary, Lady Kinnock, europe minister and Phil Woolas, the immigration minister.
Mr Woolas and his French counterpart are likely to agree to jointly fund immigration and asylum facilities in Calais, The Times understands. France wants Britain to do more to “diminish the attraction that the UK exerts on would-be immigrants.” [The growth in in unemployment should help a bit {!] but would-be immigrants largely claim to want to join their families already here! -cs]
The British and French are keen to push a project at the G8 later in the week for stabilising oil prices. They want a mechanism to limit volatility.
One of the most likely areas of conflict, however, will be the recession, with Sarkozy adamant that the crisis is far from over. He is warning other leaders to guard against premature optimism about green shoots and new dawns.
Mr Ainsworth and Lord Mandelson will discuss the future of the new Airbus A400M military transport plane amid rumours that Britain may drop out of the seven nation consortium backing the plan.
France and Germany are pushing for a six-month delay to allow for fresh negotiations with Airbus, but Britain is concerned by the extra costs.
“Does Britain want to get out of the programme? The answer as far as we know is no,” said an aide to President Sarkozy, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The cost of abandoning the project would be higher than that of pursuing it. There is convergence on this undertaking but there are difficulties on dividing up the bill,” he added.
Despite the new closeness, however, the Elysée Palace is being careful to avoid giving the impression that Sarkozy might be backing away from his freshly revived special relationship with Germany. “The Franco-German entente remains the motor of Europe that is vital for recovery when Europe breaks down,” said Mr Levitte.
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