GERMANY:The Taoiseach will fly to Berlin tomorrow for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to outline Ireland's continued support for the draft EU constitution.
Bertie Ahern will have dinner with Ms Merkel as part of a final series of face-to-face talks on the treaty between EU leaders and Ms Merkel before the June summit.
Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt will also attend the dinner, at which Ms Merkel will outline progress made by Germany's EU presidency on revising the constitution, which was rejected by Dutch and French voters in referendums in 2005.
She is expected to tell the two leaders there is an emerging consensus among the 27 EU states to support an "amending treaty" rather than the constitution.
The new treaty would retain many of the institutional measures in the constitution but remove any symbolic elements that some fear could undermine national sovereignty.
Ms Merkel hopes the outline of a new treaty can be agreed at next month's EU summit and ratified in most EU countries without the need for more referendums.
However, Mr Ahern is likely to tell Ms Merkel that Ireland will need to hold a referendum on any new treaty under the terms of the Irish Constitution. He will also strongly oppose attempts by Poland to reopen talks on the new EU voting system contained in the constitution.
An attempt to reopen talks on the institutional package in the constitution could cause the existing compromise to unravel, according to Mr Ahern, who brokered a deal on the constitution during the Irish presidency in 2004.
Sweden also supports retaining as much of the constitution as possible, although like Ireland it chose not to ratify the text when the Dutch and French rejected it in 2005.
Meanwhile, an opinion poll in the Netherlands yesterday showed that two-thirds of people would like the chance to vote on a new EU institutional framework. However, a clear majority would ratify a new treaty that changes how the EU takes decisions.
The poll by Maurice De Hont could raise the pressure on the Dutch coalition government to hold a referendum on a new treaty, a scenario that Ms Merkel and the the European Commission fear could plunge the EU back into crisis if it were rejected.
The opinion poll found 65 per cent of Dutch voters want a new referendum to be called to ratify any new EU treaty that would take effect in the Netherlands. The poll is likely to put pressure on the Dutch coalition, which is comprised of the Christian Democrats, Labour Party and the Christian Union.
The Labour Party, in particular, will come under pressure from the Socialist Party if no referendum is held.
The Netherlands, Britain, France, Poland and the Czech Republic are all seeking a slimmed-down "amending treaty" that can be ratified in parliament.
Meanwhile, the 18 states that have already ratified the constitution plus Sweden and Ireland want to retain as much of the content of the draft constitutional treaty as possible.