GERMANY: Germany has warned that a multi-speed EU is inevitable unless agreement is reached this year on the constitutional treaty, writes Derek Scally in Berlin
The German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, said yesterday after talks with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, that Berlin did not want a multi-speed EU and would prefer an agreement reached "if possible under the Irish presidency".
"No one wants a new division of the continent through a Europe of multiple speeds . . . it's not what we would wish for, but if we don't get \ we will get a multi-speed Europe, whether we like it or not," Mr Fischer said.
"If we don't want that we have to reach an agreement on the constitutional framework as soon as possible."
Mr Ahern said he was "realistic, not pessimistic" about the chances of reaching an agreement and he sensed that there was a "will for a deal" among his European colleagues.
However, he pointed out that the Irish presidency "cannot force anyone to move".
"I'm not talking about two speed, three-speed or any other speed just collectively getting our heads around it and try to get a compromise," Mr Ahern said at yesterday's a forum, organised by the Bertelsmann Foundation, attended by representatives from more than 30 European countries.
"There is a determination that it is better to try and resolve this in 2004 rather than leaving it drift," Mr Ahern said.
As well as talks with Mr Fischer, Mr Ahern also met his counterparts from Turkey, Romania, Croatia and Montenegro in Berlin. Mr Ahern said dragged-out negotiations would create a vacuum in Europe, where existing agreements would unravel while future issues such as upcoming elections would complicate matters even further.
Nevertheless he was upbeat about the prospect of moving things on during the Irish presidency.
"There's no rocket-science in this; it's a question of do we have the will to do it?" he said.
With at least half-a-dozen issues requiring agreement in coming months, he said it was unwise to let the debate be dominated by what he called the "mantra", a multi-speed Europe.
Mr Fischer, filling in for an ill Chancellor Schröder, made it clear yesterday that Berlin will "stake everything" on getting agreement on the constitutional treaty in its current form this year.
"Only with this will Europe be a political subject capable of acting on the international stage," Mr Fischer said.
He remarked that the task facing the Irish presidency was a cause for "congratulations not regret". However, he warned that "the world will not wait for Europe to solve its problems".
He said Germany is not obsessed with its wish to see the number of votes in the European Council reweighted to reflect its larger population.