The prime minister has brushed aside a Conservative claim that he scuppered Tony Blair's chances of becoming the first EU President. Skip related content
Last week Gordon Brown attended a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, and he reported back to MPs this afternoon.
Brown publicly backed former prime minister Blair for the post of President of the European Council.
The role will be created when the Lisbon treaty is ratified by the Czech Republic, the last of the 27 member states still to do so.
Ratification is expected within days.
The prime minister made no reference to the Blair candidacy during his statement to the House.
Conservative leader David Cameron commented on the omission, "considering his efforts to get Tony Blair this job".
He said "most people think it unacceptable" that an unelected prime minister is "pushing for an unelected president under a treaty that no one was allowed to vote for?"
At the 2005 election both Labour and the Conservatives promised a referendum on the European Constitution, but when it was rejected by voters in France and Holland the Lisbon Treaty was negotiated to replace it.
The government said that as certain constitutional elements had been removed, there was no longer a need for a plebiscite.
The Conservatives continued to promise a referendum, but are likely to argue that once the treaty is ratified and passes into law there is no point.
Cameron accused the government of "saying this is all a tidying up exercise" while at the same time trying to "foist a president" on the British people.
He said Blair's campaign for president is in "freefall".
"An eternal truth is that no cause is truly hopeless until it is endorsed by this prime minister," he told MPs.
The prime minister said the Tories talk about "personalities, never about policy" and said he had support in Europe for his plans to deal with the economic crisis.
He mocked David Cameron's "cast iron guarantee" on a referendum and said the Tories become "extreme and wild" at the mention of the word Europe.
Brown said the Conservative party had "rejected proposals to deal with the recession and wanted to withdraw for the EU social chapter, a move that would require the agreement of all member states.
"He wants to fight yesterday's battles when the EU has moved on from them," he said.
Brown claimed that the formation of a new party bloc in the European Parliament by the Conservatives would further isolate them, was not in the national interest and proof that Eurosceptics have taken over the Tory party.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg praised Brown's "very cunning plan" to block Blair's career.
He said the UK should instead have been lobbying for the post of EU High Representative, an EU foreign minister, "who will have real powers".
Clegg said the prime minister should "look beyond his party ranks," leading some mischievous MPs to assume that Clegg himself wanted the job.
He suggested his party's former leader Lord Ashdown and Tory former EU commissioner Lord Patten would be good candidates.
The prime minister mused on this "public application for an EU job" and pointed out that the decisions would be made after the treaty is ratified.
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