'Pathetic skeptics'

Pierre Lellouche's extraordinary attack on the man expected to be Britain's next Prime Minister came just hours after Conservative leader David Cameron promised to win back some British powers from the European Union, assuming he comes out ahead in next year's general election.

Lellouche accused the Conservative Party leader of marginalizing Britain within the EU with his new plans, which he predicted would not succeed "for a minute."

Speaking to the British daily The Guardian, Lellouche said, "It's pathetic. It's just very sad to see Britain, so important in Europe, just cutting itself out from the rest and disappearing from the radar map."

"They are doing what they have done in the European parliament. They have essentially castrated your UK influence in the European parliament," he told the newspaper.

Cameron not out to "bust up" Europe

Cameron's speech in London, a bid to appease euroskeptics in his party, comes after he pulled out of the main center-right grouping in the European Parliament, a move that sparked concern among many in Europe.

Cameron insisted that "we will not rush into some massive Euro bust-up to achieve changes," promising to "negotiate firmly, patiently and respectfully" with the other 26 EU member states.

The Conservative party set out the plans after conceding that it would no longer hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty following its ratification Tuesday by the Czech Republic.

Cameron promised to change British law so that any future transfer of powers to Brussels under the Lisbon Treaty must be approved by the British parliament, and any other treaties would be subject to a referendum.

"My purpose in committing the government to these measures is not to frustrate or to sabotage the operation of the European Union. It is to put Britain's role in the EU on a more positive footing," he added.

Same old arguments

But Lellouche said the Conservatives have no hope of securing any EU support. "It's not going to happen. Nobody is going to indulge in rewriting (treaties for) many, many years," he said, "Nobody is going to play with the institutions again. It's going to be take it or leave it and the Conservatives should be honest and say that."

The Lisbon Treaty is designed to streamline the running of the bloc, which has almost doubled in size to 27 nations since a swathe of ex-communist countries including the Czech Republic joined in 2004.

Lellouche also took aim at Conservative foreign affairs spokesman William Hague, accusing him of bizarre autism in their discussions. "They have one line and they just repeat one line. It is a very bizarre sense of autism," he said.

bk/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Trinity Hartman