Blair: UK won't pull out of EU
 |  Blair says it would be "foolishness" for Britain to leave the EU. |
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 Voters use the EU elections to register protests against national policies.
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LONDON, England -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, reacting to big election gains by anti-European Union candidates, has pledged to keep the UK within the 25-nation bloc.
"Britain's place is at the center of Europe," Blair said Tuesday during his monthly news conference.
"It is in Britain's interests to be at the heart of Europe whatever the problems and difficulties of Europe."
He added that it would be "an act of extraordinary foolishness" for Britain to pull out of the EU.
The four-day European Parliament elections -- the first since the EU expanded from 15 to 25 countries in May -- were plagued by low turnout.
But voters sent a clear signal of discontent to incumbent politicans, many casting ballots in favour of so-called "Euroskeptic" parties. Full story)
Blair's Labour Party finished third in last week's local council elections in England and Wales.
It was the worst showing by any governing party since World War II.
"I don't disrespect people who voted for any political party. But you have also got to fight for what you believe in," Blair said.
"Now is not the time for a change of direction, but it is the time for a change of gear," he said.
Blair acknowledged that the war in Iraq was a factor in Labour's poor showing, but he insisted it was right to put Britain in the forefront of the U.S.-led coalition.
"I believe that we were right to take military action and remove Saddam Hussein from power and the judgment will increasingly be seen to be right as time goes on," he said.
Blair, who is expected to call national elections in 2005, has publicly aplogized for Labour's poor performance in the local election.
"I'd like to say I'm sorry to the (local) councillors who've lost their seats," Blair told reporters last week in Washington, where he attended a funeral ceremony for former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
"I think Iraq has been a shadow over our support." (Full story)
