Ex-EU chief Prodi blasts Blair on Europe

BRUSSELS, July 6 (UPI) -- Former EU Commission President Romano Prodi has accused British Premier Tony Blair of being all talk and no action on Europe.

"With Blair I see a deep contradiction between what he says and what he does," said Prodi, a former Italian prime minister and the center-left's likely candidate in next year's elections.

Last month, Blair, who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, made a passionately pro-European speech in the European Parliament, just days after vetoing a deal on the bloc's budget for 2007-13.

According to the London Times, Prodi said Blair espoused a lofty European vision, but in reality had "always had an Anglo- Saxon idea of Europe in which (Brussels) institutions had a fundamentally marginal role."

He added that Blair's reluctance to implement measures aimed at reinvigorating the European economy was typical of his approach to the EU. "He enthusiastically supported the measures to relaunch the economy, but when it came to putting them into practice he wanted decisions to be made on a national level."