'UK EU presidency has achieved little'

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/22/ueurope.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/09/22/ixportaltop.html

Britain's presidency of the European Union has achieved "very little", former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing has said.

The French statesman said that Tony Blair and his senior ministers have been too preoccupied by July's London bombings to concentrate on EU issues.

He argued that Britain's failure to made headway during its presidency underlined the need for a European Constitution, and a permanent president of the European Council.

Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: "The chairmanship of the union now is British. We are at the end of September, what was the contribution of the British presidency up to now? Practically, very little. Why? It is because you had all the problems, you had your horrible crime in London at the beginning of the British presidency and very normally the Prime Minister and the Government were absorbed by that.