U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sought European support Friday for his plan to give regional heavyweights such as Brazil and Japan more clout at the United Nations.

Europeans, for their part, were eager to discuss the U.N. role in monitoring elections next month in Iraq, where Annan has been reluctant to reinforce his small team of experts.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Annan before the U.N. chief was to address a full session of 25 EU leaders.

A British official said the breakfast meeting avoided the summit's main topic, Turkey's bid for EU membership and its refusal to recognize the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Annan pushed hard last year to resolve the Cyprus dispute, but his efforts were rebuffed when the Greek Cypriot government rejected his unification plan, even though it was embraced by Turkish Cypriots.

The European Union has been among Annan's staunchest supporters as he tries to ward off criticism from U.S. conservatives over Iraq's oil-for-food program. Saddam Hussein's regime skimmed billions of dollars from the U.N.-supervised program.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/12/17/international0634EST0462.DTL