Blair to meet Chirac and Schroeder

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder ahead of this weekend’s crucial summit on the future of the European Union, it has emerged.

The three leaders will meet in Brussels early on Friday, immediately before the start of the summit.

Officials have not disclosed details of the agenda, but the three men look certain to focus on the issues which threaten the bid by EU leaders to sign off on the proposed European constitution.

The new constitution is designed to streamline the EU and avoid bureaucratic and political gridlock when it expands from 15 to 25 countries.

The new members are not joining until next May, but pressure is on for a deal at the Brussels summit, which is due to run over the weekend and could stretch beyond.

There are a host of potential sticking points which could trip up EU leaders and scupper hopes of agreement.

The European Commission is pushing for more authority, and for virtually all EU decisions to be taken by a majority vote of the member states, to avoid one or other country blocking progress because of a narrow national interest.

The UK has already accepted a move to more majority voting under the constitution, but refuses to go as far some others wish.

The British Government has made clear that it will not sign up to anything unacceptable to the British people. That includes the so-called “red line” issues – foreign policy, taxation, social security, defence and the euro-budget - where decision-making must remain by unanimity, according to the Government.

The Spanish and Poles meanwhile are demanding more voting clout, and the small member states are trying to boost the Commission’s power against the might of the traditional “big fish” in the EU – the UK, France and Germany.

On the euro-budget, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has made clear that the UK is not happy to leave the final say on euro-spending to the European Parliament in future, insisting rather that national government ministers continue to have significant influence.

There remains a question mark too over defence policy.

Although Mr Straw has said there is “broad support” for Anglo-French-German proposals on defence co-operation, the four EU countries not in Nato – Austria, Ireland, Finland and Sweden – are concerned about an article in the draft constitution stating that all member states will go to the aid of another, if one faces armed aggression. The four are likely to want some form of opt-out.

It was not clear today whether Mr Blair’s talks on Friday with President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder will cover renewed suggestions that, in the event that the summit fails to reach an agreement, France and Germany could press ahead with their own form of closer European integration.