Blair faces budget hurdle despite summit harmony
Tony Blair on Thursday night declared that European Union leaders had set a "clear direction" on how Europe must respond to the challenge of globalisation at a largely harmonious summit at Hampton Court. But the prime minister needs to prevent harmony descending into acrimony as he tries to secure a deal on the EU's budget for 2007-2013.
Thursday’s summit was never going to see EU leaders reaching high-profile agreements affecting the EU economy. Instead, Mr Blair's aim was to set "the broad direction" in which the European economy must go, as a precursor to getting a budget deal signed in December. However, the summit was important in another sense. Before he starts the tough budget negotiations, the prime minister needs to move the EU away from the poisonous atmosphere that prevailed when those talks broke down last June. Here, Mr Blair largely succeeded. In particular, both he and French President Jacques Chirac - who were at daggers drawn last June - worked closely on the summit's principal theme of how the EU should respond to globalisation.
Some EU diplomats believe Mr Blair appeased Mr Chirac so much that France ended up dominating the summit agenda. The British prime minister, for example, backed a number of schemes particularly dear to Mr Chirac - such as a Common Energy Policy and an EU fund to retrain workers hit by the economic impact of globalisation.
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