MEPs from many parliamentary groups and member states have strongly condemned the British governments obstruction of EU decision making during a debate leading up to the Florence Summit.
After the President of the European Commission and the EU Council of Ministers outlined their plans for the summit to the parliament yesterday, members also demanded stronger action to deal with Europe's unemployment.
"Employment is our first priority", the Commission President, "Mr Jacques Santer, assured the "parliament. "All the governments and all the social partners are more than ever conscious that the highest priority is the struggle against unemployment."
The Dublin Labour MEP, Ms Bernie Malone, said she was unhappy with the agenda for the Inter Governmental Conference, which is considering changes to the EU treaties. The issues being discussed included citizenship, institutional reform and 10, reign policy, yet issues such as poverty and social exclusion, which were directly relevant to people's lives, were not on the agenda at all.
"The fight against unemployment must be put on a par with the attainment of EMU," she said. "We must rebalance economic and social policy by providing for a social audit of all Union policies. We must put fundamental rights into the EU treaties, such as the right to a decent income, health care, housing and education.
The leader of the Fianna Fail group, Mr Gerard Collins, said the summit must concentrate on defusing the tensions between Britain and the other EU member states. "European leaders, and especially the British government, can help to restore some balance in relations between Britain and the rest of Europe by agreeing on a framework for resolving, the BSE problem at the summit.
He said the beef crisis had diverted attention from the work being done at the IGC and he criticised the "anti European rhetoric" in Britain.
The Fine Gael Munster MEP, Mr John Cushnahan, said that while he hoped the Florence Summit would end the beef row, "it must resolve it in a way that does not reward blackmail. If blackmail tactics are seen to succeed on this occasion, then a real danger exists that other member states would be tempted to apply similar tactics when it suits them.
"One of the lessons to be learned from this saga is that the IGC must refine the decision making structures of the European Union to ensure that there is no repetition of these circumstances where one member state is able to hold the entire European Union to ransom", Mr Cushnahan said.