Hague rushes to reassure uncertain Europe
By politics.co.uk staff
Foreign secretary William Hague has embarked on a round of visits to European capitals as he seeks to adopt a pragmatic approach to the continent.
Concerns on the continent about the Conservative party’s natural euroscepticism mean Mr Hague will spend much of his time reassuring foreign ministers about Britain’s new attitude.
The europhile Liberal Democrats’ presence in the coalition government means there is some scope for Mr Hague to step back from some of his party’s more hardline policies.
But the Times newspaper reported EU president Herman van Rompuy was likely to request a preview of the Budget in his meeting with David Cameron in No 10, generating early friction with London.
Speaking on the Today programme, Mr Hague said that EU countries would find that “Britain’s new coalition government is very, very active in European affairs and proposing European solutions to many of our problems in the world”.
Yesterday Mr Hague visited Paris to meet French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner.
He is in Rome today for a trip to see Italian foreign minister Frattini. He will then travel to Berlin to see German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle and Warsaw for a meeting with Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
