Meanwhile traditional areas of political co-operation were reaching their natural conclusion

Meanwhile traditional areas of political co-operation were reaching their natural conclusion. During the 1980s French economic policy was geared to linking the franc to the deutschmark, an objective which has, with the launch of the euro, been achieved.One of France's next political ambitions concerns Europe's nascent defence policy, something which involves increased co-operation with Britain. Simultaneously Germany's growing self-confidence has reduced its need for Paris to lend legitimacy to a country once gripped by Nazism.But more important is the shift of emphasis in the EU to areas where the European Commission has no competence. In these domains - justice and home affairs, foreign and security policy, defence - power is balanced more equally among the 15 member states represented in the Council of Ministers.The result is what many see as a vacuum at the heart of policy-making (one that has prompted criticism of the luckless European Commission president, Romano Prodi).

As one European diplomat put it: "We are probably in a critical process of change in the nature of the EU. With the enlargement of Europe and policies like defence and security, trade policy and justice and home affairs, it is more difficult to see where we are going."Mr Blair, who has cultivated premiers such as Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, Wim Kok of the Netherlands, Antonio Guterres of Portugal and Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, has seen an opportunity. At last month's Lisbon summit the agenda was set not by France and Germany, but by a collection of other member states, including the UK, Portugal, which holds the EU presidency, Spain and the Netherlands. The UK has manoeuvred itself into a stronger position by settling a long-running dispute over a directive imposing an artists' levy on the re-sale of their works. A week ago Mr Brown even won support from several countries for his ideas on combating tax evasion.This is, however, no revolution. Outside the euro there are limits to British influence and the UK is excluded from the important meeting of finance ministers from countries which take part. And constructed over a generation, the Franco-German alliance remains the most important bilateral relationship in Europe.When Germany needed support for its candidate for the top International Monetary Fund post, France obliged; Paris has led the charge to isolate Austria over its inclusion of the far-right Freedom Party in government, backed by Berlin.

Moreover the debate on how to deepen the EU, perhaps by allowing a multi-speed Europe to take shape, will be influenced more by Paris and Berlin than London.Not only will such decisions be taken while France holds the EU presidency later this year, but they also fall into one area where co-operation between the French and the Germans has always been strong: European integration.Nevertheless the EU has changed. The familiar pattern of Franco-German domination, driven forward by a powerful European Commission, has given way to a more complex patchwork of shifting alliances allowing a range of countries to set the pace - including Britain.. . Choosing not to be too fastidious over Chechnya, Tony Blair has unashamedly wooed the new Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin. Today, the President-elect will reward him by making London his first port of call in the West and the visit could mark the start of a special relationship between Britain and Russia. Choosing not to be too fastidious over Chechnya, Tony Blair has unashamedly wooed the new Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin. Today, the President-elect will reward him by making London his first port of call in the West and the visit could mark the start of a special relationship between Britain and Russia. Mr Putin, 47, a former KGB agent, remains a largely unknown quantity and many countries are taking a cautious, wait-and-see attitude towards him.

But after making a slow start that raised suspicions he was still under the thumb of Russia's main oligarch, he gave a number of signs last week that could encourage the West and vindicate Mr Blair in his political investment.The strongest such signal was the push the President gave to arms control when he urged the State Duma to ratify the 1993 Start-2 treaty, cutting the long-range weapons of Russia and the US. After years of foot-dragging, the Russian parliament, re-elected last December and now more loyal to the Kremlin, voted on Friday to ratify the accord, which will halve the nuclear powers' stocks of warheads by 2007.In addition, there were other small signs of a possible new reform spring in Russia. Rather than taking offence at the Council of Europe's decision to suspend the Russian delegation over Chechnya, Mr Putin agreed to allow observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) back into the war-torn Caucasian region. Promising indications on the economic front included Mr Putin's appointment of Andrei Illarionov, a liberal reformer from the early Yeltsin years, as his personal adviser.The Moscow Times may call the British Prime Minister "Putin's pet foreigner" and accuse him of being "fawningly eager to taint himself" by association with the scourge of Chechnya. But if Russia is to rise and flourish, Mr Blair wants Britain to be ahead of other countries in engaging Moscow.For Britain, a special relationship with Russia would be something new.