Ahern to meet heads of state to resolve EU row

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern is expected to hold the first of a series of face-to-face meetings with European leaders to discuss last month’s Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) and the failure to agree on the proposed Constitutional Treaty.

On Tuesday night, the Taoiseach spoke by telephone to the leaders of the four countries whose disagreement led to the breakdown of the Treaty negotiations in December.

Mr Ahern’s spokesman said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, French President Jacques Chirac and Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller had all pledged their support in the Taoiseach’s efforts to bring a resolution to the problem.

“All four were supportive of his efforts,” said the spokesman.

However, it is understood that Mr Ahern will be unable to assess if agreement is possible during the Irish presidency until detailed discussions have been held with the four leaders to ascertain the full extent of their differences.

Mr Ahern told reporters yesterday that he was determined to progress the matter, notwithstanding complicating factors, which include the upcoming Spanish and Greek elections as well as a new commission being formed later this year.

On the controversy over a possible two-speed Europe he said that no workable set of proposals had been put to him in relation to how that would operate in practice.

Referring to the existing provision for enhanced cooperation, he said that he had no difficulties with countries availing of that mechanism to move at a quicker pace in a particular policy area, as long as it was open to all member states.

“He does object to the idea of a number of countries coming together and ruling out involvement by other countries,” said his spokesman.

“That would be divisive in the long term. There is general agreement that an enlarged EU with 25 members has to work as efficiently and effectively as possible,” he added.

Mr Ahern said he was committed to a new strong constitution and would make every effort during the Irish term to reach a consensus.

Meanwhile, the virus that has caused the worst flu outbreak in the United States in five years has hit Germany.

The German Chancellor, Mr Schroeder, was last night said to be suffering from symptoms and had consequently cancelled today’s scheduled meeting with An Taoiseach.