The EU Presidency

Britain treads warily as it takes on troubled EU presidency

Britain took on the presidency of the crisis-torn European Union, promising conciliatory leadership even as it renewed a bitterly contested drive for economic reform of the bloc.

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In a working document for the next six months, London put economic reform at the top of its to-do list, including re-examining the divisive issue of farm subsidies, which has propelled Britain into an epic battle with France.

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At the same time, Britain studiously avoided dealing with the EU constitution, which is under "reflection" since being overwhelmingly rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands; two founder members.

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"It's an uncomfortable situation that all of us are in in Europe at the moment," said Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"But, as the prime minister said in the speech he made last week, out of a crisis can come an opportunity," he told the BBC, referring to an address made by Blair at the European Parliament in Brussels.

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"In many ways I think this was a crisis, a problem, waiting to happen in Europe," Straw said. "What we now have to do is use the position we have as president of the EU to provide leadership and to provide leadership, however, in a conciliatory way."

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Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to mark the start of his six months at the helm of the European Union by holding talks with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and the other commissioners in the British capital.

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They are to give a news conference at 3:00 pm (1400 GMT) today.

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The next six months are expected to be stormy ones, as the European Union struggles to agree on a budget for 2007-2013, the first since the bloc expanded to 25 members last year.

"We have to say this to all member states and to all leaders: Look, don't play with the national card, don't come with nationalistic rhetoric," Barroso told BBC radio.

"It gets us nowhere. You have to make some compromises. You cannot get 100 percent satisfaction in agreement. You have to give something also. This is the right approach," he said.

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"Those who are saying to their respective public 'I won, I won, I'm the best, I'm most beautiful in Brussels'. It is complete nonsense. That is not the way to do things in Europe."

British officials suggest London faces a construction job, trying to rebuild bridges between countries after the chaos of last month's EU summit, with one acknowledging, however, that it would be a "delicate task".

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Perhaps a demolition job would be more constructive; for then the Nations of Europe would be free to move forward to better Economic growth.