26 October 2009 - Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign Secretary David Miliband attacked the Conservative Party's policy on Europe on Monday, saying it could fuel calls for Britain to pull out of the European Union.
Miliband played down speculation in the media that he could be a candidate for the powerful new foreign policy chief role created by the
EU's new Lisbon treaty, saying it "isn't going to happen" when he was asked about taking the job.
Europe is shaping up as a battleground in the general election, due by next June, with the Labour Party talking up the benefits of the Lisbon treaty and the Eurosceptic Conservatives deeply opposed to it.
The Conservatives, well ahead of Labour in the polls, have promised a referendum on Lisbon if it is not in force if and when they take power. If the treaty is in force then, the Conservatives have said they would not let matters rest there.
They have refused to be more specific but analysts believe they would try to negotiate the return of some powers, such as social policy, from Brussels to London.
The Czech Republic is the only member state that has not ratified the treaty but the chances of the treaty going into force rose on Friday when Czech President Vaclav Klaus welcomed an EU proposal that would remove his objections to signing.
Miliband said there was a "deception" at the heart of Conservative policy on Europe, "a deception of the country that you can hate Europe as it exists today and remain central to European policy making."
"In fact, a failed attempt to renegotiate aspects of the European Union that the Conservative Party does not like will lead inevitably to more calls for Britain to leave the European Union," he said in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London thinktank.
Conservative leader David Cameron says he wants Britain to remain in the EU, but opposes moves to "ever closer union."
The Conservatives strongly oppose suggestions that former Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, could be the first person to occupy the powerful EU presidency created by the Lisbon treaty.
In a BBC interview on Sunday, Miliband endorsed Blair for EU president, saying the EU needed someone who stopped traffic when they landed in Beijing, Washington or Moscow.
"I think it would be very good for Britain, as well as very good for Europe, if Tony Blair became a candidate and if he was chosen," he said.
Blair has refused to say if he is interested in the job, saying the job does not exist yet.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Michael Holden)
