Blair to Seek EU Budget Deal in Week of `Intense' Diplomacy
Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair has scheduled a series of meetings with other European Union leaders to try to secure a deal on the bloc's budget, starting in Barcelona today and finishing in Hungary on Friday, Dec. 2. ``It's going to be a fairly intense round of discussions,'' spokesman Tom Kelly told reporters travelling with Blair from Malta to Barcelona, where he will attend the EuroMed summit between the EU and nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea. ``We are going to go for a deal.'' He declined to say what terms Blair is seeking. Blair was due to meet Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero today, and aim for brief discussions with other EU leaders today and tomorrow. On Dec. 1, he will visit Estonia to hold talks with the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and then fly on to Budapest for talks with the leaders of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. By the end of the week Blair will have spoken to the leaders of eight of the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004, having met Malta's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on Nov. 25. Kelly said these accession countries ``have a particular significance and importance'' to the negotiations.
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