More than halfway through the six-month presidency, Blair is under attack for doing too little to lift Europe out of its political crisis since the rejection by France and Holland of the proposed European constitution.

Critics say Blair has failed to meet the high expectations that he set with his talk of modernisation in a speech to the EU parliament in June. Since then, said Otmar Karas, an Austrian MEP, “Blair seems to have gone into European hiding. He seemingly has left the stage”.

French officials complain that Britain could also do more to reach agreement on the EU budget, the source of angry exchanges between Blair and President Jacques Chirac at the last summit in June, when Chirac demanded that Britain give up its annual £3 billion rebate.

Blair, who indicated that he would agree to reconsider the rebate if France accepted wider agricultural reforms, has announced that the budget is not on the Hampton Court agenda. The talks have been shortened to just one day from the traditional two.

The French are steadfastly ruling out any meddling with agricultural subsidies, of which they are the biggest beneficiary.

Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, has accused Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, of “exceeding his mandate” in offering cuts in EU subsidies as a concession in trade talks with America and said in an interview this weekend that France was upholding European, not national, interests by defending the agricultural system.

“We speak about the common agricultural policy pretending not to know about profound reforms that have already been agreed to, reforms that have been painful to French farmers,” Douste-Blazy said.

However, he did not think that the British should be singled out for their poor handling of the presidency. “We should not judge too quickly,” he said. Britain’s presidency finishes at the end of December.

Blair had called for a “pause for reflection” after the rejection of the constitution in French and Dutch referendums. “That pause for reflection has evolved into inaction, if not paralysis,” said Paolo Costa, an Italian Liberal MEP.

The British can point to one success at least: the opening of membership negotiations with Turkey. But they know that their presidency will be judged on whether there is agreement on the budget.

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