The leaders of France and Germany met for talks over private dinner late Wednesday and promised to patch up the differences in their historic partnership provoked by the European Union's impending enlargement to the east.

President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin of France held three hours of discussions with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at a restaurant outside Strasbourg in the border region of Alsace -- a venue specially chosen to emphasise the impor-

tance of the two nations' post-war reconciliation.

Also attending the dinner were foreign ministers Hubert Vedrine and Joschka Fischer.

The talks were arranged after tensions between the two countries burst to the surface at last month's European summit at Nice, and their leaders agreed on the urgent need to "re-define" the link which has been the driving force behind the EU for the last 40 years.

Emerging from dinner in at atmosphere of bonhomie, Chirac said it had been "pleasant, important and useful... We have decided to build together a policy of deepening Europe."