Tony Blair said that he expected the crucial EU summit in Brussels to be a "very tough negotiation" as he began his last major talks as Prime Minister.

Mr Blair spoke as Europe's leaders filed into the headquarters of the European Council in Brussels late this afternoon for the start of a vital but divided summit to decide on a new charter for the EU.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor steering the presidency of the EU and the summit, urged her 26 fellow heads of state to find room for agreement in the next 48 hours of discussions, which are aimed at reforming how the bloc works and further unifying social and foreign policy across the continent.

"The people not only in Europe but all over the world expect us to bring this to a conclusion. The people of Europe expect us now to concentrate on those issues that are important," said Ms Merkel, who arrived early at the summit with an 11-page list of issues that need to be resolved. "Each and every country will be taken very seriously as regards their concerns."

A bluffer's guide to the EU treaty

Our correspondent hacks through the verbiage to explain what happened at the EU summit and what it means

• Patchwork deal proves Europe cannot heal its deepest wounds

BACKGROUND

• Unconstitutional

• Fresh start or revived constitution?

• Merkel’s dream; Britain’s nightmare

• Brown’s first test: how to avoid an EU constitution

• Europe divided over summit plans

Related Links

• Q&A: the EU reform treaty

• Blair: 'I'm prepared to sink EU summit deal'

• Let’s learn from the intransigent Poles

Britain and Poland are expected to raise the most objections to the new treaty and both have threatened to use their veto to block its progress.

"This is going to be a very tough negotiation," said Mr Blair. Earlier, the Prime Minister told The Times that he will walk away from a deal at his last major summit rather than accept new rules that interfere with British law or social and foreign policies.

In Brussels, Mr Blair said that the Government needed to be guaranteed of national control over four "red line" areas -- foreign policy, the judicial and police system, tax and social security legislation, and an EU charter of fundamental rights -- before he would agree to the new charter, which is a watered down version of the failed EU constitution.

"We have laid down four areas where we have to have really significant change and we will have to see that change. It will have to be done," he said. "On the other hand, of course, we want to make sure that Europe works more effectively. There are almost double the number of countries in Europe today, and we need to get this resolved, and I hope very much that it can be done."

Britain's outspoken objections, which clash with countries happier to pool resources and, for instance, choose a single EU foreign minister, have led Mr Blair to be identified by Spain and José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President as the chief troublemaker at the summit.

However, the Prime Minister believes that Ms Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, the freshly-elected French President, are both more sympathetic to his outlook than their predecessors and that there is a chance of a favourable outcome. He was also described as "always a very constructive figure" at EU meetings by the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, today.

Mr Rasmussen was less conciliatory towards Poland’s chief argument against the new EU charter, saying it was "absurd" that the country's war dead should be reflected in its voting rights.

Under the EU’s new voting proposal, which aims to streamline decision-making in the now more cumbersome union, the population of a country is critical.

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