Bush to meet EU leaders

President George W Bush - a man with Euro vision?

President George W Bush is to join Prime Minister Tony Blair and his 14 fellow EU leaders at a special European summit later this year.

The announcement was made by Downing Street on Tuesday ahead of Mr Blair's visit to Canada and the United States, where he will have his first face-to-face meeting with the new US President.

The Prime Minister leaves London on Wednesday for Ottawa, and talks with his Canadian counterpart Jean Chretien, before addressing both houses of the Canadian parliament on Thursday.

On Friday Mr Blair will go to Washington to meet US Vice-President Dick Cheney at the White House, before heading off to the presidential retreat of Camp David, where defence is expected to dominate discussions.

Missile defence

British officials have played down suggestions of a split between Mr Blair and Mr Bush over US plans for a controversial new missile defence system - which is opposed by Russia and some European allies.

Fylingdales: a role in missile defence system?

The Americans are considering a National Missile Defence (NMD) system to protect the US against rogue states who might acquire inter-continental missiles.

This could mean using British bases such as the Fylingdales early warning system in North Yorkshire to track missiles under the so-called "son of star wars" system.

Strategic defence interests

Mr Blair's spokesman said: "We see this as an issue of real concern to them and as of real concern to us."

Asked if any firm agreement on the plan could be reached, he added: "We are not in a position to do that because the Americans are not in a position to set out in detail the proposals they are going to be bringing forward.

"The British government's position will be decided according to an assessment of our own national strategic defence interests."

Tony Blair: Defence discussions

Leadership challenge

The Conservative leader, William Hague, called on Mr Blair to "start showing some real leadership" by signalling that Britain would stand by the United States on ballistic missile defence.

Mr Hague, addressing the Board of Deputies of British Jews in London, also urged the Prime Minister to tell Mr Bush that the "ludicrous" proposed European rapid reaction force was a non-starter.

Commenting on the Anglo-US air strikes around Baghdad, he said: "Had we been relying on a European force to carry out this action, we would almost certainly be waiting indefinitely for something to happen."

He said that a European army outside NATO would push the United States away from Europe "and undermine our ability to carry out such decisive operations in the future".

Special relationship

Mr Blair has already acknowledged the importance of his relationship with the US president.

His spokesman said the Prime Minister was confident he could allay any fears in the White House about the proposed EU rapid reaction force.

"What we have to do is set out the facts. The Americans would be opposed to it if it undermined Nato and so would we."