Brown Goes to Brussels to Repair Bridges and Launch Charm Offensive

Gordon Brown yesterday embarked on a European charm offensive when he paid his first visit to Brussels as prime minister and declared that Britain and the EU were inseparable.

"The EU is essential to the success of Britain and a Britain fully engaged in Europe is essential to the success of the EU," the prime minister said after talks with José Manuel Barroso, the commission president. "I have no doubt that in this time of global uncertainty we should not be ever throwing into question, as some would, the stability of Britain's relationships with the EU."

Barroso warmly welcomed Brown to Brussels, though there is some irritation in private that it took the prime minister nearly eight months to make the visit to the European commission which is traditional for all new EU leaders.

The first months of the Brown premiership were spent defending "red lines" in the recently sealed Lisbon treaty overhauling the way the EU is run. Brown offended other European leaders in December by showing up late for the treaty signing ceremony in Lisbon.

He then invited Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Angela Merkel of Germany to Downing Street for talks on the financial markets crisis, infuriating leaders of smaller European countries. He sought to make amends by later including Romano Prodi of Italy and Barroso on the guest list. "You can't do Europe just by calling Berlin and Paris all the time," one official said.

Against this background, meticulous plans were made by the commission and Downing Street for yesterday's meetings, which covered Brown's pet subjects of economic reform and climate change. Brown began the day by meeting Peter Mandelson, Britain's European commissioner, who has had a tense relationship with him since they fell out when Tony Blair became labor leader in 1994.

In their first face-to-face meeting since Brown became prime minister, the two had what was described as a "friendly" discussion about the world trade talks, Britain's place in Europe and domestic British politics. Mandelson told Brown he should engage wholeheartedly with the EU and take note of the way Sarkozy's energetic approach has made him a dominant figure. Berlin and Brussels are keen for Brown to become a counterbalance to Sarkozy, who is viewed as mercurial, opportunistic and unreliable, while also more protectionist and less liberal on economics.

Brown attempted to show that Britain is shaping the debate when he set out "four major goals" for the EU. The goals, which will be fleshed out at next month's annual spring EU economic summit, are building global prosperity, creating an environmentally sustainable world, leading on stability and reconstruction around the world, and leading the fight against poverty.

Brown said the EU could focus on these goals because it had resolved its institutional changes for the next decade.

European diplomats and commission officials say Brown has an ideal opportunity to shape this agenda. "The March summit is a natural playground for Brown," one official said.

Officials in Brussels hope yesterday's visit marks the beginning of a better relationship. But many in Brussels are not yet convinced that Brown is grasping the opportunity as fully as he might.