LONDON — The recent European summit in Brussels reached a compromise on a treaty that would replace the proposed European constitution rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands.
Tony Blair, in one of his final appearances as prime minister, claims to have preserved Britain's independence through a series of opt-outs. His tough line has irritated many fellow European leaders without satisfying EU-skeptics in the opposition Conservative Party who are calling for a referendum on the treaty. The new government of Gordon Brown will not concede a referendum, and the revised treaty will, I hope, be approved.
Douglas Hurd, a former Conservative British foreign secretary, has said that Britain often "punches above its weight" in world affairs. It can only do so when it works with its friends and not against them. The British have recognized, at least ever since the Suez debacle of 1956, that they cannot exercise force in the world in opposition to policy adopted by the United States, the only superpower. They know that Britain must remain on good terms with the U.S., although that does not and should not mean that we become a tool of the Americans.