there has been 'some progress' at a european union summit friday aimed at hammering out a 1 trillion dollar budget for the bloc though 2013, a british government spokesman said. british prime minister tony blair, whose country currently holds the rotating e.u. presidency, was expected to issue a new proposal for the union)s budget later friday, said spokesman tom kelly. 'people are serious about getting a deal at this summit,' said kelly, adding: '(there) has been some progress since this morning.' so far talks have been deadlocked over britain)s demand it keep its annual 5 billion euro (6 billion dollar) e.u. rebate and france)s refusal to consider giving up any of its 10 billion euro annual farm subsidies from brussels before 2014. blair)s initial proposal for an 850 billion euro budget for the period 2007 to 2013, was criticized by france and new e.u. member states from central europe for cutting aid to the poorest states in the bloc. there have been calls for london to give up its rebate to fund revamping of the economy, infrastructure and environment in central europe. 'we are prepared to pay our fair share of enlargement but we have to recognise the budget is tight and our room for manoeuvre is tight,' said kelly. --spa 23:00 local time 20:00 gmt nnnn
