BRUSSELS, Dec 14 - Britain's Tony Blair got a sharp nudge over his wait-and-see stance on the euro on Friday as European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine proclaimed his EU colleagues knew he was determined to join the currency club.
The British prime minister intends to say as little as possible in public about his long-held policy on Europe's single currency at a two-day EU summit. But it had barely started on Friday before Fontaine put the subject on the agenda.
She began the summit in the suburbs of Brussels with a speech that swept across the process for deciding the future of the 15-nation European Union -- a debate that will sharpen here.
But she also had a personal message for the British prime minister.
"We are aware Mr Blair, of your determination to ensure that your country will soon be preparing to embrace the single currency, a step which might serve to encourage the other countries still outside the euro area to follow suit," Fontaine said.
The Blair government is sticking to its four-year-old policy -- to offer a sceptical public a referendum only if it believes the economic conditions for euro entry to be in place.
"The policy is unchanged," a British official said wearily.
Officially, all Blair has promised is to make an economic assessment by mid-2003 but the premier has recently made a series of strikingly pro-European speeches, sparking speculation the push for euro entry is on.
Every word he utters at Laeken will be scrutinised for hints as 12 nations prepare to use euro notes and coins in the new year. "The government's policy is settled...but in or out it is important the euro is a success," Blair's spokesman said.