EU: EU leaders will meet today at Hampton Court to begin a debate about the type of economic and social policy needed to reinvigorate the EU.
The threats and opportunities posed by globalisation, particularly the rapid rise of India and China, are top of the agenda.
Europe's slow economic growth and ageing population will also form part of the discussions, which are being kept deliberately low key by the current EU president Britain to try to avoid the type of grand standing and bitter acrimony that dominated the last European Council in June.
Deep divisions between France and Britain over the shape of the next EU budget for 2007 to 2013 could burst dramatically into the open again today, however British Prime Minister Tony Blair has done all he can to limit talks on the sensitive topic.
In a speech to the European parliament in Strasbourg yesterday, he reiterated the need to first debate the strategy for the future before negotiating a new EU budget. This follows Mr Blair's earlier decision to transform Hampton Court from a two-day summit into a one-day meeting, taken against a background of rising tension between Paris and the European Commission over agriculture cuts in the World Trade Organisation talks.
Mr Blair also wrote to all 25 EU leaders last week stressing that discussion on the EU budget would be limited to an update from the presidency rather than full-blown debate.
This move to delay talks on the budget has angered some new member states, which desperately need an early agreement to ensure they can draw down EU cash from the start of 2007. The hastily put together summit agenda has also baffled some political leaders.
"I'm going to this like someone who has to prepare for a final exam without knowing what will be on it," wrote Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister, in an article in a newspaper this week. Just a few months ago the informal summit at Hampton Court was being marketed as a debate on the merits of different European social models. But fears that this could turn into a slagging match between states with different social models forced a rethink and rewording.
However, some nifty politicking by Mr Blair with Paris in the run-up to the summit may have laid the groundwork for a reasonably calm, if unspectacular, meeting today. His move to accept a French proposal for an EU "globalisation fund", which could help workers adjust to job restructuring, and quiet assurance that the British rebate will be up for discussion at the December summit, has helped to clear the air.
In an article in today's Irish Times French President Jacques Chirac writes that the aim of Hampton Court should be to restore the momentum from which Europe draws its strength.
He also lays out a number of concrete proposals to boost growth such as using the European Investment Bank to increase R&D spending while stressing that Europe must continue to strive for a society centred on human dignity. But clearly Mr Chirac's willingness to engage in a debate is positive.
Perhaps the biggest threat to a harmonious summit could be Gerhard Schröder, the outgoing German chancellor, who some believe may use the occasion as his "swansong" to speak warmly of allies and settle old scores with political enemies, such as Mr Blair. The absence of incoming chancellor, Angela Merkel - who will shortly control the German purse strings on which the next EU budget will depend and who is likely to have a better relationship with Mr Blair - is also a blow to gaining real concrete results from the summit.
Mr Blair wants to get agreement on a strategy published last week by the European Commission that sets out the need for economic and social reform to boost growth and cut unemployment.
There will also be a discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of the different social models within the EU, along similar lines to recent academic work undertaken by economists such as Prof Andre Sapir, who has argued in favour of the Nordic and Anglo Saxon social model.
But few observers expect dramatic breakthroughs or major pronouncements at Hampton Court, rather it is hoped that the summit will set the scene for a successful budget deal in December.