British Prime Minister Tony Blair will try to convince East European leaders of the need for European Union (E.U.) spending cuts in order to secure a budget deal at the E.U. summit meeting in mid-December, DPA reported. Downing Street said Monday that Blair will undertake a last-ditch attempt to reach a budget deal with a string of visits to seven of the 10 new member states. He will visit Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Thursday, and meet the leaders of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia on Friday. According to the BBC, Blair will try to "sell" new British proposals to solve the crisis over the 2007-2013 E.U. budget. He would suggest a 10 per cent cut in the money spent on projects like roads, rail and water treatment in the 10 new countries. Under the proposals, Britain would give up part of its controversial budget rebate of five billion euros.
