Sarkozy meets Blair in first diplomatic step

PARIS, May 11 (Reuters) France's Nicolas Sarkozy held talks with outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair today, the president-elect's first diplomatic sortie since his weekend election win.

The two leaders greeted each other with smiles and warm handshakes before a meeting that was to focus on EU and G8 summits next month.

Blair, who met outgoing president Jacques Chirac earlier, shares common ground with Sarkozy on many issues, including moves to introduce a slimmed-down version of the EU constitutional treaty rejected by French voters in 2005.

''With Nicolas Sarkozy, you can anticipate the discussions will cover key forthcoming international meetings such as the EU, looking at the treaty, and obviously the G8, looking at climate change and follow-up to the Gleneagles agenda,'' Blair's spokesman told reporters.

Sarkozy, 52, is an admirer of the British leader, who will step down on June 27.

The two men say they get on well and Blair took the unusual step of welcoming Sarkozy's election win on Sunday with a tribute in French and English posted on the YouTube Web site.

He said the right-winger's success presented a ''fantastic opportunity for Britain and France to work together in the years ahead''.

Sarkozy wants a less ambitious treaty modernising the EU's institutions to be passed by parliament and has ruled out another referendum on the constitution.

''I don't speak for Nicolas Sarkozy and obviously that's something they will be discussing,'' Blair's spokesman said. The prime minister supported an amended treaty rather than a full-blown constitution, he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom Sarkozy will meet next week after officially assuming his functions as president, has made reviving the charter a priority of her EU presidency.

Sarkozy has stressed his desire to overcome the lingering suspicions caused by France's fierce opposition to the US- and British-led war on Iraq and has made improving relations with Washington and London a priority.

His recognition of the importance of the traditional alliance with Germany will be marked next week when he visits Berlin on Wednesday, the day he takes office.

''For the chancellor, this is an extraordinarily strong signal of Franco-German friendship,'' German government spokesman Thomas Steg said.

REUTERS AK KP2310