Europe and the United States should work together to encourage the spread of democracy around the globe, Prime Minister Tony Blair urged tonight, in a keynote foreign policy speech at the Guildhall in the City of London.
Mr Blair also cautioned Europe's leaders and media against mocking Washington's strategy for combatting international terrorism, before urging the Bush administration to reach out to the international community and eschew unilateralism as it pursues its goals.
With the arguments over Iraq between Washington and many European capitals clearly on his mind, Mr Blair argued that the US and Europe should unite in pursuing the goal of a more democratic world.
Mr Blair told his audience: "Iraq has dramatically surfaced differences between Europe and America and Britain's role in both alliances. The relationship is under question as never before. So now is the time to defend it.
"... It is not a sensible or intelligent response for us in Europe to ridicule American arguments and parody their political leadership.
"What is entirely sensible, however, is for Europe to say terrorism won't be beaten by toughness alone."
"Here there is an opportunity for Europe.
"American policy is evolving. Increasingly both Europe and America are coming to realise that lasting security against fanatics and terrorists cannot be provided by conventional military force; but requires a commitment to democracy, freedom and justice.
"The only stable Afghanistan will be a democratic Afghanistan. Ultimately, it is democracy in Iraq that will defeat the insurgents, which is why they are so desperate to stop it.
"The only viable Palestinian state will not just be based on territory, but on democratic values.
"Likewise, the best help we can give Africa is not just through aid, vital though that is, and on opening up trade, but through supporting countries in their desperate and fraught attempts to build the institutions of good governance."
Mr Blair argued: "Democracy is the meeting point for Europe and America.
"I am not, repeat not, advocating a series of military solutions to achieve it. But I am saying that patiently but plainly Europe and America should be working together to bring the democratic, human and political rights we take for granted to the world denied them.
"When Kofi Annan reports back to the United Nations in some weeks' time on UN reform, one reform we should insist on is a greater role of leadership for the United Nations on the responsibility of states to protect not injure their own citizens."
Mr Blair: "None of this will work, however, unless America too reaches out. Multilateralism that works should be its aim. I have no sympathy for unilateralism for its own sake."
Mr Blair insisted that Britain should play a pivotal role in the relationship between Europe and the US.
Mr Blair said: "We have a unique role to play. Call it a bridge, a two-lane motorway, a pivot or call it a damn high wire, which is how it often feels; our job is to keep our sights firmly on both sides of the Atlantic, use the good old British characteristics of common-sense and make the argument.
"In doing so, we are not subverting our country either into an American poodle or a European municipality, we are advancing the British national interest in a changed world in the early 21st century."
- PA