German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the current EU president, met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in an effort to ease concerns about his country's objections.

Blair entered the European Council building on foot and, like Polish President Lech Kaczynski, ignored reporters as he strode in for the first of many bilateral meetings on the summit sidelines.

"We will exchange our views and assessments of the situation. We shall also work on the text. I can't tell you more for the moment, only that we shall continue to work hard," Merkel said.

The EU is looking for a new way to simplify decision-making after the collapse of its proposed constitution, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

After months of negotiations, the Germany presidency, which runs until the end of next week, distributed a new draft text of its "reform treaty" to its EU partners for the first time on Tuesday.