AS THE man Brussels has just sent to win round the great British public to the EU, Reijo Kemppinen has a rather unexpected confession: “I don’t love Europe. I love my family, I love my children, I love my dogs, but I don’t love Europe.”

It is part of a new approach by Brussels, but the aim is no less ambitious.

The new head of the European Commission’s British office wants to transform the debate in Britain, starting a publicity drive not just to raise the profile of the Commission, the EU’s executive, but finally to reconcile Britons to being in the EU.

In his first newspaper interview since starting the post six weeks ago, he told The Times: “I am not calling for everyone to be a Europhile or a supporter of Europe, but to step away from this useless argument about whether you’re a member of Europe or not.”

Over the past decade, the British public debate has become more hostile to the EU, and now every argument is reduced to whether Britain should stay in or leave, he said. “The fact is that Britain is part of Europe and part of the EU and will stay part of the EU.

“As long as every piece of work the EU produces is analysed through the argument of to be or not to be (in the EU), the journalism will be distorted. The editorial line doesn’t allow room for other arguments.”

Mr Kemppinen’s declared aim is to “challenge (these attitudes) wherever I can”.

The posting — in effect the EU’s ambassador to Britain — is often seen as the most difficult job in the Commission. Poll after poll has shown the British have a far greater level of ignorance and far greater level of hostility to all things EU than any other member.

His predecessors have avoided flak by keeping a low profile, with the last one, Jim Dougal, hitting the headlines only when he resigned, complaining about Commission bureaucracy. But Mr Kemppinen, a 48-year-old Finn and a former chief spokesman for Romano Prodi, the previous Commission President, is the first non-citizen to head one of the EU’s national offices. Rather than lie low, he intends to take the bull by the horns. He has taken on extra staff to change the debate by arranging conferences and seminars, sending teams of press officers out to speak to regional newspapers, and setting up EU information centres around the country.

The appointment of a citizen of Finland, another Eurosceptic country, is part of a new pragmatism that Brussels hopes will prove far more effective at winning over British hearts and minds than the old ideological vision of “ever closer union”.

“I expect any journalist I talk to to whack me over the head if I start using the visionary language, rather than talk about what matters to people,” he said. Rather than love Europe, he says: “I am employed by Europe, and I am lucky to work for an institution I believe in.”

Rather than defensively rejecting criticism, Mr Kemppinen agrees with many complaints about the EU, from excessive regulation to absurd laws, and is keen not to turn critics into enemies.

“If you love Europe, please say it, but if someone doesn’t love Europe, please don’t define them as Eurosceptic,” he said. “I refuse to define Britain’s relationship to Europe by the word Eurosceptic. Perhaps it is where I came from, but I have always had great difficulties labelling Britain as Eurosceptic.

“I don’t think they are more Eurosceptic than the Nordics or the Dutch.”

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