WHEN Tony Blair took to the floor of the European Parliament his officials, muttering about Daniel and the lions’ den, expected him to get the roughest of rides.

Just 24 hours earlier, European MPs had given a lengthy standing ovation to Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, after he denounced Mr Blair for derailing last Friday’s EU summit and accused him of being determined to turn their shared dream of a politically united Europe into a free-trade zone.

His declaration that he was a passionate pro-European was indeed greeted with boos. But then something unexpected happened: the jeers became drowned out by cheers and clapping. “It was symbolic of how the mood has swung,” one British official said.

Mr Blair may not have stormed the Bastille, but wielding his motto “modernise or die”, he had stormed the temple of European federalism.

Disgruntled pro-Chirac French MEPs skulked at the back of the hall. After his speech setting out his plans for the European presidency and emphasising the need to modernise the EU and to divert its €50 billion (£33 billion) agriculture budget to industries of the future, one Spanish journalist ran out declaring: “I am convinced! He is absolutely right!”

British officials could barely contain their delight at the reaction around Europe yesterday. Just a week earlier, Mr Blair had been the whipping-boy of Europe, with President Chirac of France and Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, leading a loud chorus of denunciation, accusing the leader of perfidious Albion of dragging the EU into its deepest crisis by selfishly refusing to give up its budget rebate. “England is very isolated in Europe,” Dominique Bussereau, the French Agriculture Minister, had said.

By yesterday morning, Mr Blair had become the toast of Europe. The British may have become cynical about his Honest Tony oratory and big-tent politics, but on the unsuspecting mainland, they still worked their magic. Just as Mr Blair is most enfeebled at home, across the EU he is being hailed as the natural leader of the continent: the only man who can save Europe from itself.

Italian politicians hailed Tony Blair’s vision of Europe, and declared that a new “Rome-London axis” would provide the driving force of the new EU, replacing the exhausted Franco-German motor. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, said last night: “Europe must reform, as Prime Minister Blair says, and I am in total accord with him.” Piero Fassino, leader of the Democrats of the Left, the main opposition party, said that Mr Blair was charting the way for Europe. Antonio Polito, editor of the left-wing review Reformista, said: “The European Left must understand that it cannot remain attached forever to the Franco-German idea.”

Most worryingly for President Chirac and Herr Schröder is that their own countries’ newspapers fell under Mr Blair’s spell. The left-wing French newspaper Libération declared in its headline: “Blair’s new deal for Europe.” Its veteran Brussels correspondent, Jean Quatremer, said: “For a long time, we have been talking about the French social model, as opposed to the horrible Anglo-Saxon model, but we now see that it is our model that is a horror.” The country’s most influential newspaper, Le Monde, backed Mr Blair’s demand for a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), calling for the partial “renationalisation” of farm aid so that EU countries pay part of the subsidies themselves. The paper declared that the only way to find the funds needed for EU research and technology was to cut spending on agriculture.

Germany’s professionally Europhile journalists have broken the taboo about challenging the Franco-German axis, and no longer risk charges of being unpatriotic if they support Mr Blair. The Berliner Zeitung proclaimed Mr Blair the new strongman of Europe. Die Welt declared: “The British sense of freedom strengthens Europe.”

This week’s revolution in Europe has transformed even the EU capital, Brussels, where analysts and commentators hailed the British conquest. In a deliberate echo of Mr Blair’s former catchphrase, the highly influential European Voice declared: “Where there’s a will there’s a third way for Europe.”

Marco Incerti, of the Centre for European Policy Studies, a think-tank funded by the European Commission, said: “The wind has changed and is now blowing in Mr Blair’s favour. He has broken the taboo in talking about the CAP. There is a dramatic change and everything is now up for grabs. People realise you cannot build the most competitive knowledge-based economy by subsidising agriculture. It is difficult to think of anything of such magnitude that has happened in the last 20 years.”

None of this happened by accident. Downing Street had not expected a revolution, but after the French and Dutch voters rejected the European constitution, it quickly realised the way was open for one. President Chirac tried to deflect attention from his defeat by leading the charge against Britain’s rebate. Downing Street decided that the best defence was attack, and challenged the CAP, which accounts for 40 per cent of the EU budget, and of which a quarter goes to France.

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