Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Sunday accused nations like Britain and Poland of putting national interests ahead of European goals, and said Europe had lost the common spirit to move ahead.
A day after European Union leaders clinched a deal on a mandate to overhaul the 27-nation bloc, Prodi told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper he was deeply saddened by how every stance taken at the tense summit seemed a "proclamation of doctrine".
"As a European, allow me to be embittered for the spectacle I find myself in front of," he said. "In many years, I have never seen with such painful clarity the existence of two Europes: one, of the majority that believes and wants to move ahead, the other, that pursues a reduction of the role of the European Union as a national political objective."
Under the deal, EU leaders agreed to negotiate a reform treaty by the end of this year, to be ratified by mid-2009, replacing the EU constitution rejected in 2005 by French and Dutch voters.
If ratified, the treaty should give Europe stronger leadership, a streamlined decision-making process and more say for European and national parliaments.
Prodi lambasted Britain in particular for its "obstinacy" in wanting a European anthem and flag excluded from the treaty and for "conducting a battle" against the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
"The doggedness of some governments to negate every emotional aspect of Europe has hurt me," he said, also naming Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands in that category. "And then these are the same governments that rebuke Europe for being far from citizens. But how can you involve citizens without involving their emotions? How can you give them pride to be European if the symbols of its pride are negated?"
Prodi called the new treaty a "step back" with respect to the EU constitution, even if it was a step forward in other aspects.
"This treaty furnishes Europe with the instruments that until now were missing," he said. "But there is no longer the shared spirit for going ahead."
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