Has Mandelson gone native?

Analysis
By Nick Assinder
Political Correspondent, BBC News website

You can almost hear the cry going up from Downing Street "Oh no, Mandelson has gone native".

Mandelson has looked to EU's future

And the first reaction to the EU Commissioner's remarks on the way forward for Europe has certainly been along those lines.

The former MP and close ally of Tony Blair has finally focused his energies away from the UK and onto Brussels, that's what happens when politicians join the commission bureaucracy, they claim.

In fact, while undoubtedly provoking some jitters in government, Mr Mandelson's speech offers a near identikit remedy for the EU's woes as that offered by Mr Blair.

In what was described as a "major lecture on the future of Europe", Mr Mandelson suggested Britain has sounded too "neo-Thatcherite" to the rest of the EU.

He called on ministers to consider reforming Britain's much-criticised £3 billion a year rebate, just as the prime minister is having to defend it to every other EU state.

Chilly response

And he told Mr Blair, albeit not by name, that "both tone and substance need now to change if the British government is to command attention and win the backing it seeks on the continent.

"A greater effort must be made to get this right during the UK presidency which starts in a few weeks time."

Chirac wants cut to UK rebate

Those remarks are certainly aimed at Tony Blair's role as EU president which kicks off on 1 July and they have brought an apparently chilly response from Downing Street.

In particular, they have been seen as unhelpful at a time when the prime minister is locked in yet another battle with French President Jacques Chirac over the UK rebate and budget reform.

But Mr Mandelson's remarks came towards the end of a detailed speech on the need for Europe to reform and which closely echoed the prime minister's own agenda.

Indeed, some have seen his comments as a sideswipe at Chancellor Gordon Brown for his more unbending approach to the EU.

And, of course, it may well be Mr Brown who is in No 10 when any major reforms of the entire EU budget structure are being debated.

Argy-bargy

In its entirety, Mr Mandelson's speech sets out exactly the European battle ground on which Tony Blair is determined to fight over the coming months, particularly during his presidency.

A key section declares that Europe must press ahead with "painful" economic reforms - just as Tony Blair has stated.

Blair wants reform and modernisation of EU

"Essentially we need a new social consensus for economic reform as New Labour has achieved in Britain," Mr Mandelson said.

"These broader, more profound issues are frankly more important than the familiar argy-bargy over Britain's budget rebate," he added.

Tony Blair will agree with that. He has taken the French rejection of the EU constitution and his presidency as an opportunity to drive the EU towards exactly that sort of New Labour future.

So, while the timing of Mr Mandelson's comments may be seen as unhelpful, his speech helps map out precisely that modernising agenda that the prime minister intends to drive forward in Europe.

Despite initial appearances it seems this European Commissioner's native instincts remain close to those of Tony Blair.