Chirac, Blair seek to patch up ties
Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair today sought to minimise their differences over the future of the European Union, with the French president saying they want to be forces of harmony and not of division within the bloc.
“For the Europe of tomorrow, we are both determined to be … not a force of division, but a force for harmony,” he said with the prime minister standing at his side.
Blair said there were always going to be disagreements within the 25-nation EU, but the important thing was to find solutions to help the bloc face the challenges of globlization.
He said he was very hopeful, after meeting with Chirac, that an informal gathering of EU heads of state that he is hosting in London later this month would be “a good summit with positive outcomes”.
He described his meeting with Chirac as “very good and constructive”.
