BLAIR SAYS HAMPTON COURT SUMMIT AIMING FOR UNITY ON DIRECTION OF EU.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that the aim of the informal summit meeting of EU leaders on October 27 will be to agree the "direction" of Europe". In an interview with die Welt newspaper on October 22, Mr Blair, who is currently President-in-office of the European Council, said that he hoped the summit at Hampton Court Palace would "establish unity over the direction of Europe". This would involve removing barriers to improving the EU's competitiveness and ensuring that the Single Market would be completed. Then, at the December summit, EU leaders could agree on "specific content" by settling future financing for 2007-13, he said. He admitted that getting agreement would be a "major challenge".

In the interview, Mr Blair said that he supported the proposal tabled on October 20 by...