Brussels, 13/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The British Presidency has rejected criticisms (from the European Parliament, for example, see EUROPE 9047) of its decision to concentrate its Hampton Court Summit on only one day (27 October). The agenda and timing of heads of state discussions will be 'exactly the same' as if nothing had changed and the meeting had been held on 2 days as originally planned, said a British Presidency spokesperson on Thursday. He said that rather than starting on the afternoon of 27 October and ending at midday the next day, the British had decided, on the request of several delegations, to hold the entire meeting on one day, starting at 10: 00 hrs and ending at 18: 00 hrs, exactly the same number of hours in total. He also defended the decision to hold the Summit in the United Kingdom (all formal European Council meetings are held in Brussels) and in an informal framework so that it could be restricted to only heads of state and government (the only other people invited is EU High Representative Javier Solana, the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell). The British Presidency spokesperson said the three main topics of discussion would be globalisation and the challenges facing Europe (the main subject), the EU's role in the world (foreign and security policy, Africa, etc) and the negative consequences of globalisation currently threatening Europe (terrorism, organised crime, immigration, etc). Tony Blair is also planning to brief his colleagues on progress on the Financial Perspectives (the big issue at the European Council of 15/16 December).