Ireland will argue for no changes to European Constitution
It coincides with the start of the German presidency efforts to devise a plan on how to breathe new life into the document all butdeclared dead 18 months ago when French and Dutch voters rejected it.
The meeting organised by Luxembourg and Spain was originally to include only the 18 countries that ratified it but the Irish insisted they should attend and Mr Treacy expects to contribute to the debate. The Germans have sent just an observer.
The meeting will not be able to ignore the fact that France and Holland cannot simply return to their public with the same document a second time.
Mr Treacy points to Ireland putting the Nice Treaty to a vote twice, but having given an undertaking on the issue of neutrality in the second, successful bid.
“We found a formula to ratify Nice which puts Ireland in a unique position to find a formula,” he said.
The Germans want to find such a formula too but out of the public gaze.
The Irish representatives, Dan Mulhall, director general of the EU division in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Eoin O’Leary, assistant secretary in the Department of the Taoiseach, have been the first to go to Berlin for consultations and they will be followed over the next six weeks by those from the other countries.
They will initially concentrate on putting together a declaration to be signed by all member states at the celebrations to mark the EU’s 50th anniversary in Berlin on March 25.
All 27 member states recognise that changes are needed to allow the vastly enlarged Union to function. But some argue that the other elements in the Constitution — the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the section that mainly brings together the existing treaties into one — could be ditched.
The Danish prime minister, facing a possible sceptical public, has said that in this event it could be passed by parliament rather than through a referendum.
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