Tweet
With Bush's election, with Barroso's attempt to make a new team, and with Arafat's upcoming death, these are interesting times for the EU indeed.
From the BBC:
From the BBC:
From the BBC:
Blair urges EU to accept Bush
Tony Blair is urging European leaders to wake up from their "state of denial" over President Bush's re-election.
"America has spoken. The rest of the world should listen," the prime minister says in an interview with The Times newspaper, published on Friday.
Mr Blair also admitted he had gone to bed at 2230GMT, well before the polls closed, thinking Mr Kerry may have won.
He woke up at 0530GMT to discover Mr Bush had won but declined to say if he was pleased with the eventual result.
Some people were in "a sort of state of denial", he told The Times, predicting a more "receptive mood" soon.
Mr Blair, who is in Brussels for a two-day summit with fellow European leaders, said America needed to listen to the world too.
"The fact is that President Bush is there for four years. He is there because the American people have chosen him," Mr Blair says in the interview.
The fact is that President Bush is there for four years. He is there because the American people have chosen him
Prime minister Tony Blair
He also makes clear he intends to take seriously what he perceives as his role in bringing the two continents together.
'UK is uniquely placed'
Britain is "uniquely placed" to make out the common ground because of its strong alliance with the US, he suggests.
Mr Blair gave the interview before leaving for the meeting of the European Council in Belgium where leaders are due to agree a five-year asylum and immigration plan.
The prime minister joined the summit on Thursday to discuss plans aimed at streamlining the issue.
He recently said the UK would only participate in EU-wide action where it was in UK interests but the Tories say he is surrendering a key veto.
Streamlining
Mr Blair says Britain will retain sovereign control over national borders because it only needs to opt into the EU measures it likes.
He also claims pooling decision-making in a 25-nation EU will streamline rules affecting asylum and immigration.
The leaders gathered in Brussels will also assess progress on the economic reform plans agreed in Lisbon in 2000 to make Europe more competitive.
Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is also travelling to the summit on Friday as the leaders agree a new aid package for his war-torn country.
Tony Blair is urging European leaders to wake up from their "state of denial" over President Bush's re-election.
"America has spoken. The rest of the world should listen," the prime minister says in an interview with The Times newspaper, published on Friday.
Mr Blair also admitted he had gone to bed at 2230GMT, well before the polls closed, thinking Mr Kerry may have won.
He woke up at 0530GMT to discover Mr Bush had won but declined to say if he was pleased with the eventual result.
Some people were in "a sort of state of denial", he told The Times, predicting a more "receptive mood" soon.
Mr Blair, who is in Brussels for a two-day summit with fellow European leaders, said America needed to listen to the world too.
"The fact is that President Bush is there for four years. He is there because the American people have chosen him," Mr Blair says in the interview.
The fact is that President Bush is there for four years. He is there because the American people have chosen him
Prime minister Tony Blair
He also makes clear he intends to take seriously what he perceives as his role in bringing the two continents together.
'UK is uniquely placed'
Britain is "uniquely placed" to make out the common ground because of its strong alliance with the US, he suggests.
Mr Blair gave the interview before leaving for the meeting of the European Council in Belgium where leaders are due to agree a five-year asylum and immigration plan.
The prime minister joined the summit on Thursday to discuss plans aimed at streamlining the issue.
He recently said the UK would only participate in EU-wide action where it was in UK interests but the Tories say he is surrendering a key veto.
Streamlining
Mr Blair says Britain will retain sovereign control over national borders because it only needs to opt into the EU measures it likes.
He also claims pooling decision-making in a 25-nation EU will streamline rules affecting asylum and immigration.
The leaders gathered in Brussels will also assess progress on the economic reform plans agreed in Lisbon in 2000 to make Europe more competitive.
Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is also travelling to the summit on Friday as the leaders agree a new aid package for his war-torn country.
From the BBC:
Iraq overshadows EU summit
French President Jacques Chirac has decided to leave an EU summit just before a meeting with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Mr Allawi is due to join EU leaders as guest of honour at the summit lunch in the Belgian capital.
Mr Chirac, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, said he had prior engagements and would not attend.
But he described French links with Iraqi officials as "excellent" and said he had never refused to meet Mr Allawi.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has said some EU leaders are in a "state of denial" over President Bush's poll win.
He urged European leaders to accept President George Bush's re-election, in an interview with London's Times newspaper.
'Spectator countries'
Correspondents say Mr Chirac's move is seen as a clear snub to Mr Allawi, who has called for broader involvement in Iraq.
America has spoken. The rest of the world should listen
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair
Mr Allawi has implored so-called "spectator countries" to become actively involved in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, denied that there was any snub by President Chirac.
The French leader is to fly to the United Arab Emirates on Friday to express condolences over the death on Tuesday of its founding leader, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan.
"I think that what we should do is look towards the future, forget about the past," Mr Bot told reporters.
But the open split in EU ranks over the Iraq war risks being reopened on Friday, the BBC's European affairs correspondent William Horsley reports from Brussels.
The EU is due to approve a package of aid for training Iraqi election officials, lawyers and police, but it is worth only 30 million euros ($39m) - a small sum by Europe's standards.
Two more members of the US-led coalition in Iraq, the Netherlands and Hungary, this week announced plans to withdraw their troops quite soon after the Iraqi elections, planned for January.
Mr Allawi, on a European tour, made his plea for wider participation in his country after a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome on Thursday.
French President Jacques Chirac has decided to leave an EU summit just before a meeting with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Mr Allawi is due to join EU leaders as guest of honour at the summit lunch in the Belgian capital.
Mr Chirac, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, said he had prior engagements and would not attend.
But he described French links with Iraqi officials as "excellent" and said he had never refused to meet Mr Allawi.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has said some EU leaders are in a "state of denial" over President Bush's poll win.
He urged European leaders to accept President George Bush's re-election, in an interview with London's Times newspaper.
'Spectator countries'
Correspondents say Mr Chirac's move is seen as a clear snub to Mr Allawi, who has called for broader involvement in Iraq.
America has spoken. The rest of the world should listen
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair
Mr Allawi has implored so-called "spectator countries" to become actively involved in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, denied that there was any snub by President Chirac.
The French leader is to fly to the United Arab Emirates on Friday to express condolences over the death on Tuesday of its founding leader, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan.
"I think that what we should do is look towards the future, forget about the past," Mr Bot told reporters.
But the open split in EU ranks over the Iraq war risks being reopened on Friday, the BBC's European affairs correspondent William Horsley reports from Brussels.
The EU is due to approve a package of aid for training Iraqi election officials, lawyers and police, but it is worth only 30 million euros ($39m) - a small sum by Europe's standards.
Two more members of the US-led coalition in Iraq, the Netherlands and Hungary, this week announced plans to withdraw their troops quite soon after the Iraqi elections, planned for January.
Mr Allawi, on a European tour, made his plea for wider participation in his country after a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome on Thursday.
European leaders at their best. 
Comment