THE days of the Maastricht Treaty are numbered. EU heads of government, at their Turin summit, yesterday launched the process of its review by agreeing to a broad mandate for the foreign ministers who will carry out the negotiations.
The leaders also signalled that they may convene a special informal summit later in the year, under the Irish presidency, to debate the idea of a "social Europe shorthand for trying to persuade voters that the Union is more than a huge uncaring market.
The mandate agreed is basically no more than an agenda carefully crafted not to prejudge even the most difficult issues and the Union has plenty of them. "Where's the beef?" one, journalist complained appositely.
The day's debate was dominated by different perspectives on what Europe could or should bet doing about jobs and the philosophical underpinnings of Europe's common social policy.
Over lunch the President of the Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, presented his "Confidence Pact for Jobs", a combination of increased dialogue with the social partners and additional funding for trans European networks. He did not tempt fate by raising the issue of where such funding might come from the last week has almost certainly put paid to any hoped for farm budget surplus.
But Mr Santer was upstaged by the President Chirac of France who wanted to float his initiative's on a social Europe. This is a social contract based on minimum standards of income and, welfare protection, with a commitment to employment.
The leaders joined in what one official described as an "unfocussed but enthusiastic" discussion, with both Mr Chirac and the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, suggesting that they should set aside some time for discussion of the idea before the end of the IGC hence the possibility of an informal summit during the Irish, presidency.
During the formal session of the IGC the Danes also sought unsuccessfully to amend the mandate given to foreign ministers to include an explicit commitment to an employment clause in the treaty.
And Mr Major signalled clearly that Britain would not be relinquishing its social chapter opt out. On the contrary, he launched a pre-emptive strike against likely, European Court of Justice ruling allowing a wide interpretation of health and safety provisions in the Maastricht Treaty Britain has been fighting a rear guard action against a directive restricting working hours, with Mr Major claiming this is not a health and safety issue. He promised yesterday to seek the amendment of the treaty to make this" perfectly clear. A summit devoted to debating such a common social strategy might not be all sweetness and light.
The mandate for foreign ministers contains few surprises. The challenges are outlined in the same way that the Reflection Group prepared the ground a Union closer to its citizens, institutional reform to make the EU more democratic and efficient and a strengthening of the capacity for it to take action on the world stage.
The detailed issues range from citizens rights, to reform of the structure of the Commission, to the relationship with the WEU. But nobody's room to manoeuvre has been constrained.
On the key issue of reducing the use of the veto, the mandate simply say "The IGC should address the question of the extent of majority voting.
In his contribution to the brief debate between foreign ministers the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, said, that the priority of the IGC was "to address the direct concerns of ordinary citizens and that its outcome should not just be acceptable but welcomed by the public". The aim, he said, was an "ever closer union among the peoples of Europe" and that required tangible improvements, in all three pillars of the Union.
The welcome enlargement of the Union also necessitated its, deepening, he said. "We either have the determination to move "it forwards or we allow it to drift backwards."
Following the opening of the IGC its work now falls to the personal representatives of the foreign ministers who begin their painstakingly detailed task on Monday and Tuesday and are likely to meet almost weekly thereafter. They are expected to continue their work, the mandate predicts, for "about one year". Or less, if the British election is sooner, say most commentators.
Mr Spring's personal representative is the former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs Mr Noel Dorr who will assume the chair of the meetings from July 1st. Once a month the foreign ministers will devote a full day to debating the IGC.
