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Miliband to call for 'model' EU EU 'should expand beyond Europe'
(about 6 hours later)
Foreign Secretary David Miliband is expected to call for the European Union to be a "model power" for the world. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has suggested the European Union should work towards including Russia, Middle Eastern and North African countries.
In his first major speech on the UK's relationship with the EU, Mr Miliband will reject a Europe-wide "superstate". He said enlargement was "our most powerful tool" for extending stability.
But it is thought he will promote an EU dedicated to free trade and the environment, tackling the threats of religious extremism and terrorism. In his first major speech on the UK's relationship with Europe, he said the EU would not become a "superpower" but should be a "role model" for the world.
His remarks follow the Prime Minister's declaration that Britain's "most important" relationship is with the US. It could be a "model power of regional co-operation" dedicated to free trade, the environment and tackling extremism.
Environmental damage He said the EU must "keep our promises to Turkey", adding: "If we fail.... it will signal a deep and dangerous divide between east and west.
Mr Miliband is due to make his address at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, where Baroness Thatcher delivered her famous warning against "some sort of identikit European personality" almost exactly two decades ago in September 1988. "Beyond that we must keep the door open, retaining the incentive for change and the prospect of membership provides."
This time, however, the venue is expected to see the foreign secretary call for the Union to use "soft and hard power" to safeguard democracy. Mr Miliband made his address at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, where Baroness Thatcher delivered her famous warning against "some sort of identikit European personality" almost exactly two decades ago in September 1988.
He will press for the EU free trade zone to be widened to include North Africa, and make a renewed appeal for Turkey's membership of the EU, it is anticipated. US 'only superpower'
The Union should extend military support to places like Darfur, he will argue, to help solve problems of unwanted migration. Mr Miliband said that speech had been "haunted by demons - a European superstate bringing in socialism by the back door".
It is also thought that Mr Miliband will urge EU member states to use their common clout to tackle environmental damage, protectionism and the threat of terrorism. But he said: "The truth is that the EU has enlarged, remodelled and opened up. It is not and is not going to become a superstate. But neither is it destined to become a superpower."
By contrast, Prime Minister Gordon Brown used his first major foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet on Tuesday to declare that "our ties with America - founded on values we share - constitute our most important bilateral relationship". In the way it dispenses its responsibilities around the world, it can be a role model that others follow David MilibandBritish foreign secretary class="" href="/1/hi/uk_politics/7097162.stm">In full: Miliband speech class="" href="/1/hi/uk_politics/7096746.stm">Send us your Bruges speeches
BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said that the government is keen to shift debate away from arguments over the EU reform treaty. He said the US was still the only world superpower but that should not be a "source of dread" for Europeans - but an opportunity to "embed our values and commitments in international rules and institutions".
And he said the EU had the chance to be a "model power" which could develop shared values between countries.
"As a club that countries want to join, it can persuade countries to play by the rules, and set global standards. In the way it dispenses its responsibilities around the world, it can be a role model that others follow."
Extremism and insecurity
Mr Miliband said new threats, like protectionism, religious extremism, energy insecurity, rogue and failing states and climate change provided a new "raison d'etre" for the EU.
He outlined four principles for the "next generation" of Europe, for it to remain open to "trade, ideas and investment", to develop shared institutions to overcome religious and cultural divides, to prevent conflict by championing international law and human rights in and outside Europe, and to become a "low carbon power".
He said a successful EU must be prepared to "deploy soft and hard power to promote democracy and tackle conflict beyond its borders".
He said the goal "must be a multilateral free-trade zone around our periphery".
This would be a "version of the European Free Trade Association that could gradually bring the countries of the Mahgreb, the Middle East and Eastern Europe in line with the single market, not as an alternative to membership, but potentially as a step towards it".
Embarrassing
And the EU should extend military support to places like Darfur, he argued, to help solve problems of unwanted migration.
He also said European nations had to "improve their capabilities".
"It's frankly embarrassing that when European nations - with almost two million men and women under arms - are only able, at a stretch, to deploy around 100,000 at any one time," he said.
"European countries have around 1,200 transport helicopters, yet only 35 are deployed in Afghanistan. And EU member states haven't provided any helicopters in Darfur despite the desperate need there."
Long-term regulations were needed to phase out carbon emissions in key areas - by reducing vehicle emissions and work towards "a zero-emission vehicle standard across Europe".
He said that by 2020, all new coal-fired power stations must be fitted with "carbon capture and storage".