BRUSSELS - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown attended his first Brussels EU summit on Friday, seeking to shake off criticism of his absence at the signing of the bloc's key reform treaty.
Brown, who received flak in the British press for his clumsy European diplomacy -- one week after boycotting an EU-Africa summit -- did not mention his absence from the grand ceremony in Lisbon, as he spoke to reporters ahead of the Brussels meeting.
However the British press was joined by some European voices in decrying what one diplomat dubbed his "semi-detached" attitude to Europe.
"This was an unnecessary slight to the other leaders," said Graham Watson, head of the European Parliament's liberal group of lawmakers.
Brown's spokesman dismissed the furore, saying the prime minister "characterises it as a fuss about nothing."
"He signed the treaty, it was done in public, what's the issue?" the spokesman asked reporters.
Brown, claiming a diary clash with a British parliamentary committee, turned up in Lisbon hours after his 26 fellow leaders had signed the landmark reform treaty designed to streamline the bloc's institutions.
Britain was represented at the ceremony by Foreign Secretary David Miliband, with Brown signing later, at the official lunch venue after most of his fellow leaders had left.
Such was the media interest on Friday that at an official Downing Street briefing an official had to field a question over why Brown was not wearing the same lapel badge as his fellow EU leaders.
Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair in June, has not thrown himself into European affairs with the same gusto as the French or German leaders did after they came to power.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave strong europhile signals upon taking office, helping to ease through the bloc's budget and the reform treaty itself.
Brown had another signing in mind as he arrived at the summit, his first visit to Brussels as prime minister, where most EU leaders were concentrating on the future of the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo.
"We'll sign today a declaration on globalisation, which will be Europe reaching out to the rest of the world to meet all the challenges, economic development, environmental security and prosperity for the future," he told reporters.
"I look forward to looking with my colleagues at some of the issues arising from the global financial turbulence, and what we can do about that as well," he added, making no mention of Kosovo.
"Yesterday leaders signed the amended treaty. Today begins a different chapter," Brown said.
Both pro- and anti-European British media criticised Brown's behaviour, describing it as "embarrassing" and "cack-handed".
The eurosceptic British press laid into Brown's handling of the Lisbon event -- the tabloid Daily Express even labelled Brown "Mr Bean", after the bumbling television comedy character.
The conservative Daily Telegraph broadsheet said in an editorial that other European Union leaders were left "incredulous" by his behaviour.
His absence also drew comment among his fellow EU leaders in Lisbon.
"We've all got problems to deal with. I personally think that we need Britain in Europe," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters in Lisbon.
"We need Gordon," he added in English.
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12/14/2007 15:23 GMT