IF IT WERE A BABY THEY'D STRANGLE IT:

British and French rivalry spills over on three fronts (Philip Webster, Anthony Browne and Peter Riddell, 6/07/05, Times of London)

Blair confronts Chirac on EU reform
Britain ignores French treaty plea
Paris and London contest Olympic race

BRITAIN faces six months of turmoil in charge of the European Union after suspending the referendum on the constitution yesterday, a move sharply criticised by France.

The Government threatened to veto a drive led by France and Germany to end its £3 billion annual rebate at next week’s Brussels summit.

It also provoked its EU partners on a third front by making the continuing enlargement of the bloc a priority for the British presidency, which begins next month. Turkey begins accession talks in October, but French and German public opinion has swung heavily against Turkish membership.

As if to emphasise the intense rivalry developing between Britain and France in particular, a report from the International Olympic Committee suggested yesterday that Paris and London were the strongest contenders to host the 2012 Olympic Games, but appeared to give Paris the edge.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, in effect abandoned the British referendum by suspending the necessary legislation, despite demands by President Chirac and Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, that the ratification process continue.

British ministers now anticipate a slow and lingering death for the blueprint rejected by the French and Dutch electorates last week, although a Populus poll for The Times shows that half the British electorate would still like a vote.

W should threaten to boycott if the Olympics are in an Axis of Weasel nation.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 7, 2005 12:00 AM