The three countries have tried to reassure other EU members

Gerhard Schroeder, Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair are to discuss economic challenges facing the EU and reform as it takes in 10 new members in May.

Mr Schroeder said they wanted to find common solutions for common problems "to give a new impetus to Europe".

Some European leaders fear the three are trying to dominate an expanded EU.

Italy's Europe Minister, Rocco Buttiglione, has repeated the view of the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, that the EU does not need such a directorate to run its affairs.

"Nobody in Europe is ready to be a second-class citizen. Europe is made up of 25 countries, not of three," he told the BBC.

We've got to make sure that Europe is not just competitive internally but competitive with the rest of the world Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister

Opening the summit, Mr Schroeder, the German Chancellor, said the EU had to become more competitive and streamlined.

He said the talks would be "a helpful contribution toward a better functioning, expanded Europe", adding "that is the goal - nothing more, nothing less".

The UK's prime minister, Mr Blair, said their negotiations on economic growth and jobs would benefit everyone.

"We've got to make sure that Europe is not just competitive internally but competitive with the rest of the world," he said.

Before the talks started, the three countries had been keen to reject fears that the three leaders wanted to set up a small body, or directoire, within the EU to take control.

Reassurance

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it made sense for the three biggest economies to work "collaboratively" on matters of common interest.

"We cannot seek to impose our will on the rest of Europe," he said.

"But if we can reach a common stand, it is more likely that it will be shared across Europe."

Mr Straw also said he had spoken to his counterparts in Italy, Spain and Poland over the past two days to reassure them about the purpose of the talks in Berlin.

The leaders of Denmark, Luxembourg and Netherlands have said they were not concerned.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told a German radio station that it would be a "useful meeting".

He said it was generally a good idea to co-ordinate positions ahead of EU summits to make actual negotiations easier.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also said it was "natural for the big countries to get together".

Motor

The BBC's European affairs correspondent William Horsley says French President Jacques Chirac and Mr Schroeder now accept that their claim to be the joint "motor" driving Europe's future needs to be adapted as the EU expands to 25 states.

The summit is expected to produce a set of joint proposals for EU-wide economic reforms, aimed at boosting growth and jobs.

Each of the leaders is accompanied by four or five ministers for an afternoon of talks on EU issues, before they and their foreign ministers discuss wider international affairs over dinner.

Officials say the main focus of the meeting is how to make EU economies more competitive - pushing forward the agenda adopted at the Lisbon summit in 2000.

"Per capita productivity in the EU is still about 20% lower than in the United States," said a British diplomat.