Survivor of the left finds the right company
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Your support makes all the difference.For one of the few survivors of Europe's once dominant centre-left, this should be the loneliest of summits. Instead, Tony Blair arrives in Seville very much at ease in the company of an EU gathering dominated by the centre-right.
Since the heady days of 1997 and 1998, when the left recorded victories in London, Paris and Berlin, the tide has turned, with Portugal, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and France falling to the right.
Yet Mr Blair has rarely seemed more at home and helped shaped the agenda for the summit with Jose Maria Aznar, Prime Minister of Spain, which holds the EU presidency. Mr Aznar, the leader of the Spanish centre-right, is one of Mr Blair's closest allies in the EU.
The Prime Minister has also forged an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian premier. And there has been a meeting with the centre-right Danish premier, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and a dinner with the re-elected French President, Jacques Chirac.
By contrast, Mr Blair's relations with the socialist "family" in Europe have sometimes been strained. Contacts with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder have been cordial but formal, while ties with Lionel Jospin, former prime minister of France, were distinctly frosty.
Mr Blair was asked at a press conference yesterday how he squared his belief that Britain is now winning the debate in Europe with the fact that the centre-left is losing elections.
He replied with a little humour: "There are some very cheeky comments being made around here about what it says about the nature of this Government."
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