blazy praised british prime minister tony blair for his willingness to compromise on the budget. blair, he said, had put european financial planning above internal political arguments. a clearly elated blair, whose country holds the rotating e.u. presidency, said earlier saturday: 'this is about getting an agreement that allows europe to move forward.' romanian prime minister calin popescu tariceanu, whose country is joining the e.u. in 2007, said the agreement was a 'giant step for the continuation of the european project'. the principle of solidarity had been victorious, he said, and every e.u. country had made a contribution. the breakthrough deal for an 862.36 billion euro (1,035 trillion dollar) budget secures finances for the e.u. from 2007-13. european commission president jose manuel barroso admitted that the agreement did not contain everything he wanted, but he expressed relief that a deal had been reached. under the deal - which trims the annual british rebate currently running at about 5 billion euros a year - more money will flow to the bloc)s new member states in central europe. london is set to lose about 1 billion euros a year under the complex rebate cutting formula. the deal also proposes a far-reaching review of e.u. finances including farm subsidies. either way, farm support is to be cut back during the seven-year period from 43 billion euros to 40.6 billion euros annually. meanwhile the e.u. announced before the close of the summit that it had agreed to give macedonia e.u. candidate status if the balkans country fulfilled certain criteria. the decision was a signal to other balkan states that the e.u. also had an european perspective in mind for them, said enlargement commissioner olli rehn. --spa 23:56 local time 20:56 gmt nnnn
