BRUSSELS, Dec. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- European Union (EU) leaders agreed on early Saturday to grant Macedonia the candidate status, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced here.

    The EU made the U-turn on Macedonia after the EU leaders stoke an agreement on the 2007-2013 budget plan at a summit here.

    "We hope Europe will recruit Macedonia in that part of vision," British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told a press conference when asked to comment on the issue.

    Earlier on Monday, EU foreign ministers failed to agree on are port of the European Commission to give EU candidate status to Macedonia.

    At that time, the EU was far to get a deal on budget plan, France openly voiced its opposition against the move to offer candidate status to Macedonia, saying the question should await a wider discussion of further enlargement next year. Enditem