EU: The Taoiseach has told his EU colleagues that he hopes the European Council meeting opening in Brussels tomorrow will decide to seek an early agreement on the Constitutional Treaty.
The Taoiseach will circulate a report to other EU heads of state and government this evening which is expected to recommend a re-opening of the Inter Governmental Conference with a view to making a deal before the end of the Irish Presidency on June 30th.
Speculation now centres on whether they will seek to have the treaty finalised at the European Council meeting on June 17th-18th, or set an even more ambitious of the end of April.
The Taoiseach's report is expected to say that the atmosphere has changed since last December's summit failed to agree the Constitutional Treaty, and that there is now a mood conducive to a deal among the 15 member states and the 10 who will join on May 1st.
In his letter to the 25 heads of state and government yesterday Mr Ahern confirmed that the summit meeting will start at 6 p.m. tomorrow - two hours earlier than planned - to allow a discussion and agreement on a package of anti-terrorism measures which have been fast-tracked in the wake of the Madrid bombings.
Mr Ahern will travel to Madrid this morning for a memorial service for those who died in the Madrid bombings. He will go directly to Brussels this evening for pre-summit discussions with Government and EU officials.
Tomorrow morning he will have a pre-summit meeting with the President of the European Commission Mr Romano Prodi and the President of the European Parliament Mr Pat Cox, before meeting a delegation from UNICE, the European employers' federation and attending the EU's social summit involving both employers and trade unions.
Tomorrow night the leaders will have their discussion of the Constitutional Treaty while at the same time EU foreign ministers, chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Cowen, will discuss the Middle East peace process, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq and other issues. On Friday the EU's heads of state and government, foreign ministers and finance ministers will discuss the so-called Lisbon Agenda, which aims to turn the EU into the most successful economy in the world by 2010.
The Taoiseach has proposed discussions on sustainable growth and competitiveness, employment, and a session on proposals to improve Europe's economic performance by 2005.