Prodi enters the lion's den

Prodi: Hoping to explain "the real agenda"

LONDON, England -- European Commission President Romano Prodi has faced the notoriously Euro-sceptic British press in a lunchtime question-and-answer session.

Prodi met a group of 60 UK political journalists at the House of Commons in London, including representatives from the UK's most Euro-sceptic newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and The Sun.

The latter, Britain's biggest-selling paper, has been particularly outspoken in its attacks on the European Union.

It recently denounced Prodi as "a power-mad Euro-boss," and has become renowned for its anti-EU headlines, including it's infamous 1990 "Up Yours Delors" put-down to then EU President Jacques Delors.

The session allowed Prodi to meet his critics head-on, and counter allegations that he is trying to build a European superstate.

"He will be explaining what is really happening in the European Union," said Prodi's spokesman Jonathan Faull. "(He will explain) what the real agenda is, which is nothing to do with the United States of Europe."

Opposition to the euro

Prodi arrived in Britain on Wednesday night, and had a morning meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair before arriving at the House of Commons at midday local time.

His visit comes at a sensitive time for the UK government, with a general election expected in May and Britain's relationship with the EU sure to be a major battleground issue.

A survey published in Brussels last week showed that just 28 percent of the British public think that EU membership is a good thing (the lowest figure of any EU state).

UK polls, meanwhile, consistently show two-thirds of the British public opposed to membership of the single currency.

Faull insisted that Prodi had not come to Britain to try and influence the single currency argument.

"The decision about joining the euro is one for the British people to take," he said in a BBC radio interview on Thursday. "Mr Prodi has not come here to take part in that debate."

At the same time, however, he said that Prodi would point out that, despite widespread criticism in the British press, the euro had achieved its goals of low interest rates, low inflation and high growth in the 12-member euro zone.

He also said that Prodi wanted Britain to engage in a "real debate" about the future of the European Union, which he described as "one of the great successful ventures of the post-war world."

Such statements cut little ice with Britain's Euro-sceptics.

"He (Prodi) wants a common foreign policy, a common army, a common currency, a single economic policy," says former Conservative minister John Redwood. "That's why he wants the (EU) army. That's why he wants control over the economy."

Romano Prodi answers your questions
October 28, 2000

European Union
The House of Commons

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