Blair and Zapatero unite against ‘common threat’
Tony Blair and Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero today discussed plans to form an “alliance of civilisations” to tackle terrorism on an international scale.
Speaking after the two leaders met at Downing Street, the British prime minister said the two countries had a “common threat” in terrorism and would work together to tackle it at home and abroad.
In addition to taking forward the EU-wide anti-terrorist measures agreed after the Madrid bombings last year, Spain and Britain would share ways to tackle young Muslim radicalism and work on increasing the exchange of data.
Also under consideration was Mr Zapatero’s proposed “alliance of civilisations”, Mr Blair said, where European countries would work together with Muslim countries to form a “coalition of civilised people from whatever race or religion to combat barbarity”.
The prime minister has made much of the need to improve international cooperation in the fight against terrorism, and today’s meeting, which followed a similar display of solidarity with the Turkish premier this morning, suggested he has strong support for this.
Asked about European-wide arrest warrants of terror suspects and the logistical problems they posed, Mr Blair said this was an example of how cooperation between nations must be improved.
“I’m very anxious to make sure we cooperate fully with EU partners,” he said, insisting that while different countries had different judicial systems, working together was “essential”.
Responding to a question about the young Brazilian mistakenly shot as a suicide bomber in south London last week, Mr Zapatero echoed Mr Blair’s regrets but said he trusted EU countries to balance security concerns with civil liberties concerns.
He added: “The struggle with terrorism is not a conventional war, and therefore the mechanisms have to be different.”
The two leaders also discussed the UK’s six-month presidency of the EU and Mr Zapatero expressed his support for Mr Blair’s priorities of boosting the economy and employment.
“Our society has to be economically dynamic and innovative in order to be able to compete in a globalised world,” the Spanish premier said, welcoming an informal European council to be held in Britain this autumn.
For his part, Mr Blair said both leaders agreed on the importance of combining social justice with the reform and regeneration required to make the EU competitive.
