Barroso begs Blair for Christmas budget
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso made a strong appeal on Thursday (20 October) to EU president and UK leader Tony Blair to get a budget deal by Christmas. "If not, we might well open a period of political instability and this is the last thing we need in Europe", he said. "A new failure would be very, very heavy". The speech was backed up by five ideas to reconcile Anglo-Saxon calls for EU modernisation and Gallic worry over agriculture and social protection, which derailed budget talks in June. The timing of the appeal is designed to spark debate at the mini-summit in Hampton Court, UK, next week and to feed into UK presidency drafting of a new negotiating box due out in early November. Hampton Court will ostensibly deal with social issues such as the ageing EU population, but Mr Blair's broadly-worded agenda on jobs and globalisation leaves room for budget talks, free from the burden of public expectation.
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