Date of release : 04-02-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

The Prime Minister and current President of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London on Friday, 4 February 2005.

The discussions between the two leaders essentially focussed on the priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency, such as the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy, financial perspectives for 2007-2013 and examining the Stability and Growth Pact.

Jean-Claude Juncker and Tony Blair emphasised the importance of these three dossiers for the European Union in general and the Member States in particular, especially as regards the economic and political development of the Union in the coming years.

Other topics of discussion focussed on the enlargement of the European Union, EU-Russian relations and the upcoming visit by the American president, George W. Bush, to the European Union and NATO in Brussels on 22 February.

Following their meeting, President Juncker made the following statement: "I am pleased to have been able to meet with the British Prime Minister during my stay here in London. Mr Blair and I addressed all the subjects that are important to the Luxembourg Presidency, and for which we have established clear deadlines. Tony Blair is a partner who is mindful of the challenges and expectations facing the Luxembourg Presidency. Because the United Kingdom will assume the next Presidency on 1 July 2005, we were able to trace broad lines of action by the Council beyond the six months of the Luxembourg Presidency."

On the subject of financial perspectives, Mr Juncker said that he was "less pessimistic than before the meeting," after Prime Minister Blair had cleared the path towards a global compromise on this question. According to Jean-Claude Juncker, "there remains much work to be done" on this dossier because the British position is currently "quite distant" from that of the other Member States.