EU summit: UK U-turn on open meetings

Ministerial level EU meetings will now be televised after the UK withdrew opposition to new transparency procedures.

After opposing calls for automatic televised discussion of most legislation by the EU council of ministers London has stepped away from an embarrassing row.

The climbdown is an early humiliation for new UK foreign minister Margaret Beckett who spelt out her opposition just one day before EU leaders met in Brussels.

On Friday the current holders of the EU presidency, Austria, confirmed that London is now backing the push to open EU decision-making to greater public scrutiny.

Schüssel thanked Britain for withdrawing concerns and told reporters that proposals will go through as drafted.

“We are trying this out basically,” he said.

The new transparency procedures will be reviewed after six months to ensure they are working.

But summit discussion over transparency has been eclipsed by efforts to put a positive spin on unanswered questions over the European constitution.

As he left Brussels on Friday afternoon, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted there was still no obvious answer.

“We have left the door open on what is the right way forward,” he told reporters.

“There is no doubt that the EU is going to have to change its rules but precisely what form that will take, we are going to have to reflect on.”

The British leader added that for Europe to move forward constitutional deliberation must not be allowed to overshadow the “bread and butter” issues that voters care about.

“Voters care about jobs, immigration, fighting terror and energy security,” he said. “People are worried about these issues and we need to focus on them.”

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