Sidelined states' fury at EU summit snub

Tony Blair was today engulfed in a sudden row over Europe as he was accused of a stitch-up with France and Germany at the expense of the rest of the EU.

The Prime Minister flew to a three-way summit in Berlin this afternoon with President Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Gerhard Schrˆder to discuss the EU's future. But the gathering brought furious public protest from Italy and Spain as well as concern from Poland and many others among the member states, due to grow to a total of 25 in May.

Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, bluntly attacked the summit as "a big mess". His Europe minister, Rocco Buttiglione warned the big three to "beware". He added: "Nobody in Europe is ready to be a second-class citizen. The EU is made up of 25 countries - not three."

Today, amid signs that the row was spiralling out of control, Mr Blair and his senior ministers were making urgent efforts to calm the anger.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told a press conference he had spoken to his counterparts in Italy, Spain and Poland over the past two days to reassure them. "I am in no doubt that my Spanish and Polish friends are understanding about the purpose of this meeting," he said.

Downing Street refused to say whether Mr Blair had made similar telephone calls.

But the row is doubly embarrassing for the Prime Minister

because Mr Berlusconi and Spain's premier José Maria Aznar have been among his closest allies. He has also gone out of his way to build friendship with Poland and the other newlyjoined EU members.

The British, French and German leaders will each be backed by a team of senior ministers at a summit which will last only a matter of hours, but is set to cover a range of key issues.

The fear among those excluded is that it will carve up the main decisions ahead of the full-scale official summit of all EU members to be held in Brussels next month.

While today's agenda is formally about making the EU more competitive by boosting jobs and cutting red tape, the three leaders will also discuss the new EU constitution and the choice of the next president to head the commission in Brussels.

Spain's foreign minister Ana Palacio, another voice customarily friendly to Britain, suggested that today's summit amounted to an operation to "kidnap" the EU agenda.