SURREY, Britain, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- It's a good day for British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The one-day informal European Union summit held here at Hampton Court outside London came to an end Thursday with leaders in "good spirit, good mood", and some hailing it a "real success" as Blair had expected.

    The leaders of the 25 member states have reached "strong consensus", said the prime minister, who presided over the summit as Britain holds the bloc's presidency.

    Not only are the leaders united in pledging further assistance to South Asian earthquake victims and coming up with an effective disaster-response mechanism, they also expressed their welcome to the UN investigators' report on Syria's involvement in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

    What's more, the leaders reacted with condemnation to Iranian president's words of violence threatening to get Israel "wiped offthe map."

    Nonetheless, the most consoling fact to host Blair lies in the consensus on the agenda he meted out, that is, the future direction of the 25-member bloc in the face of the challenge of globalization.

    "Europe is back on track and now moving on the right direction," said Blair on behalf of his country's EU presidency while holding a joint press conference with Manuel Barroso, president ofthe European Commission. He added that there is "broad agreement" on social and economic policies in response to globalization.

    Blair proposed on Wednesday in his speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg six priorities for the member states to work on in the face of challenges posed by globalization. These include boosting research and innovation and improving coordination between member states by creating a "European research Council", improving excellence of universities to boost EU academic competitiveness to keep the regional bloc on a par notonly with the United States, but also with China and India.

    Opening up the energy sector and using the bloc's "collective bargaining power" with energy suppliers is one other priority given the fact that Europe will become a 90 percent importer of oil and gas in the near future.

    A controlled economic migration to the benefits of the bloc anda globalization fund which serves as a "shock absorber" to help people face the difficulties brought about by restructuring are also on the table.

    Although no decisions were made at the end of the summit, as widely understood for an informal meeting of its kind, the leadersagreed in their discussions on the new direction to put substance into the policies of the bloc. And this, in Blair's view, is "a good basis for the budget deal".

    To add to Blair's joy, Barroso hailed the summit as a "real success", with great atmosphere, substantial discussions and concrete results.

    "Today I'm more optimistic than yesterday. Compared with people's expectation a few months ago, the summit is a real success," noted Barroso, adding "Europe is on the move again. What we need now is to move from analysis to action by getting concrete results."

    But not all members are as upbeat as him. The globalization fund seems to be unpopular with some central and eastern European members, who deem it as unnecessary since restructuring in the countries are irreversible and widespread.

    Others are pressing even harder for a final deal on the EU budget, which Blair has smartly avoided for this meeting and put off for the December summit.

    To wrap up the summit, Blair meted out areas that calls for more cooperation among the EU, namely, preparing its economy for the challenges of globalization and knowledge economy; combating illegal immigration and terrorism; and a strong common position for EU on foreign policies.

    "EU needs to address the concerns of people, debating issues like jobs, life standard, anti-terrorism, immigration," to keep itabreast with the time, said Blair.

    The British Prime Minister has got a strong feeling among EU members that Europe needs to do better. And now after the meeting when "a clear direction on how to respond to globalization" is set,it's time for action and for the EU to move forward. Enditem