William Hague wants Britain at heart of EU

Published on Thursday 1 July 2010 16:55

FOREIGN Secretary William Hague has set out an agenda to put UK back at the heart of Europe by getting more Britons to find jobs in the corridors of power in Brussels.

• William Hague is aiming to increase British influence in Brussels' corridors of power. Picture: PA

The pledge by Mr Hague came as a surprise to many and appeared to reverse the Conservative Party's antipathy towards closer integration.

It came in a speech on a day of foreign policy surprises, with Mr Hague also bringing forward the timetable to get Britain out of Afghanistan.

Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted troops out of the conflict by 2015, although he insisted he was not setting a timetable.

But yesterday Mr Hague claimed they would be withdrawn by 2014.

In his first keynote speech since taking office, Mr Hague accused the previous Labour government of allowing a "generation gap" to develop over its 13 years in power, by neglecting to ensure enough British officials won key posts in EU institutions.

He said he wanted to encourage more talented British graduates to seek employment as European bureaucrats.

Numbers of British officials at director level in the European Commission had fallen by a third since 2007, and numbers of UK posts by 205 overall, he said.

Although it represents 12 per cent of the EU population, the UK has just 1.8 per cent of staff in entry-level positions at the Commission.

Currently the leading British figure in the European Union is Labour Peer Baroness Ashton, who is effectively the foreign minister for the EU.

However, it is understood that she is considering quitting her role because of criticism about her lack of experience and ability from within the EU.

Mr Hague: "It is mystifying to us that the previous government failed to give due weight to the exercise of British influence in the EU.

"They neglected to ensure that sufficient numbers of bright British officials entered EU institutions, and so we now face a generation gap developing in the British presence in parts of the EU.

"As a new government, we are determined to put this right."

The drive to increase UK representation in Brussels will form part of a new approach to foreign policy designed to extend British global reach and influence.

And he explained that this could involve anything from strengthening personal relationships with other countries' ministers to exploiting the appeal of British culture and heritage or using new means of communication such as text message and Twitter.

Related articles

• David Maddox: Woes of the euro open door for a closer relationship with our continental friends However, Mr Hague has once again committed Britain to the special relationship with the US, which he described as unbreakable.

But he said that Labour had allowed this relationship to dominate too much at the expense of other allies, a problem he said he intends to rectify.

Mr Hague has already made it clear that he wants to open new and better relationships with emerging economic powers such as Brazil and India.

"In opposition it became increasingly apparent to me that the previous government had neglected to lift its eyes to the wider strategic needs of this country, to take stock of British interests, and to determine in a systematic fashion what we must do as a nation if we are to secure our international influence and earn our living in a world that is rapidly changing," Mr Hague said.

Shadow foreign secretary and Labour leadership candidate David Miliband urged Mr Hague to concentrate on standing up for Britain rather than seeking dividing lines with the last government. "William Hague needs to stop playing politics and start getting on with his job," he said.

"The idea of him lecturing the Labour Party about joined-up government, when the Defence Secretary and Prime Minister can't go more than two days without disagreeing about our most important foreign policy objective, is risible.

"The idea that he is going to bring a new dynamic to our relationship with China, when on my last visit as foreign secretary I secured a strategic dialogue without compare, is a non-starter.

"And the idea that this coalition will bring renewed influence to the European Union, when the Prime Minister is not even in the room with the key decision-makers because of his political alliances, is just plain wrong."