Ahern calls for greater cohesion of EU states

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday called for a greater engagement of all EU and accession states in advance of talks between EU foreign ministers next week.

Speaking in Prague, where he delivered a keynote speech to the Czech Senate yesterday, Mr Ahern said it was crucial all EU states agreed an EU constitution in order for Europe to adapt to the challenges faced by new threats such as terrorism from non-state 'actors'.

"The EU must continue to adapt, change and react in a creative way to the new circumstances in which it finds itself and work towards a system that is responsive to the realities which we face," he said.

"It is perfectly reasonable to try to make sure that these new needs and circumstances are reflected in changes to the basic law of the union.

"This is why it is vitally important that the union agrees the new Constitutional Treaty at the earliest possible opportunity," Mr Ahern continued.

Speaking afterwards Mr Ahern played down concern that British fears over Europe could spread to other countries and denied he was concerned at the prospect of a British referendum on the issue.

However, he said the issue of voting rights still presented the largest obstacle to agreement. "The voting issue will be the most difficult," he said.

In advance of next week's meeting of foreign affairs ministers at which Brian Cowen will outline a timetable aimed at agreeing a new EU Constitution Mr Ahern repeated a plea to all EU nations not to raise any new issues.

"I have asked that no new issues be raised in the negotiations. I will also seek a spirit of compromise and flexibility from all the participants so we can achieve our agreed objective by the June deadline," he said.

Mr Ahern also warned a united Europe should be outward looking instead of jealously guarding each other in order to be truly competitive in a global market.

"We should not only be looking at the 25 as we go along, we should also be concerned at what is happening outside Europe," he said.

Mr Ahern said he was not worried about losing Irish jobs to the Czech Republic or vice versa but warned jobs would instead be lost to India, Latin America and other emerging countries capable of undercutting European costs.

President of the Czech Senate Petar Pithart paid tribute to the success of Ireland since it joined the EU, and said his country would be happy to follow in Ireland's footsteps.

"We believe it is a happy coincidence the Irish Republic is residing over the union at this time," he said.