IRELAND and Austria will act closely together on the issue off European security during Ireland's presidency of the EU, the Taoiseach said yesterday after a meeting in Dublin with the Austrian Chancellor, Mr Franz Vranitzky.
Neither Ireland nor Austria are alone in their philosophical approach to this question", Mr Bruton said. Sweden and Finland had recently produced a joint position paper on European security which was also close to the Irish position. He said the non aligned and neutral countries in the EU were unlikely to work formally as a bloc on the security issue.
"I doubt there will be any need to formalise anything of that nature", he said. "It is important to stress we are engaged in a common endeavour in the European Union and I don't think that one would want the formation of groups of countries that are pursuing goals that are separate from the overall objective."
Yesterday's meeting between Mr Bruton and Mr Vranitzky was one of a series of meetings between the Taoiseach and political leaders from the other 14 member states in the run up to the Irish Presidency.
Speaking after his talks with the Taoiseach, Mr Vranitzky said Ireland and Austria had a number of common interests in the EU. Mr Bruton said this applied particularly to the two countries' approaches to European defence, where "we would have very similar backgrounds to our position and practical approaches to the current debate".
The issue of security in Europe was about much more than military security. "It encompasses the security of our borders against organised crime, it encompasses the security of our borders indeed against transboundary pollution of various kinds, including nuclear pollution, which is an issue in which Ireland and Austria have a very strong common interest"