EU:EU states are on course to agree a new EU reform treaty this year despite continuing political and legal problems with the text.
Poland and Britain are still seeking small changes to the treaty, which will streamline how the EU takes decisions and replace the EU constitution that was rejected in referendums in 2005.
Some of the problems relate to both country's decision to "opt out" of the charter of fundamental rights - a text that outlines EU citizens' civil, social and human rights. Britain also has problems with articles relating to common EU foreign and security policy, while Poland is insisting on having a mechanism to delay EU decisions written into text.
But Portuguese foreign minister Luis Amado, who was chairing the informal talks in Portugal, said member states were on course to agree the treaty in Lisbon next month.
However, talks focusing on a dispute over who can attend an upcoming EU-Africa summit remain unresolved as Britain reiterated that prime minister Gordon Brown would not attend a summit that featured the Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.
The December EU-Africa summit is a key goal of the current holder of the six-month rotating presidency Portugal. But the issue of whether to extend an invitation to the leader of Zimbabwe threatens to derail the meeting, which would focus on key issues such as climate change, migration and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
British foreign secretary David Miliband said yesterday that Britain would agree to a lower ranking official from Zimbabwe attending. But he said that Mr Mugabe, who is currently excluded from entering the EU under its sanctions regime, should not be invited.
EU officials have warned that other African states are likely to insist that Mr Mugabe gets a personal invitation to the summit or stay away themselves. Portugal has also refused to rule out inviting Mr Mugabe.
Lisbon argues that Europe needs to engage with Africa after a similar summit in 2003 was cancelled over the same issue. "The problem has not been solved, but we have until the end of September when the invites are due to go out to solve it," said Mr Amado.
Foreign minister Dermot Ahern said he was "extremely concerned" about the human rights situation in Zimbabwe where there is currently a major food shortage. He said the Irish Government was keeping the situation under review, particularly given the 4,000 or so former Irish farmers who continue to live in the southern African state.
"We want Mugabe to adhere to normal democratic principles and the rule of law," said Mr Ahern, who added he thought an EU-Africa summit could be a forum for debate on Zimbabwe and for other crisis-ridden areas in Africa such as Sudan.
He said if Mr Mugabe attended the summit he would take his counsel from other EU member states on how to handle the issue. But he said it was important to rise above personalities and look at the substance of the summit.
The Government recently dispatched a team of officials, led by secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs Dermot Gallagher, to Zimbabwe to investigate the situation of Irish citizens living there. The group is also understood to have discussed possible contingency plans in case any future evacuation is required if the humanitarian situation degrades further.
The economic situation is worsening by the day in Zimbabwe. Earlier this week the government devalued its currency by 1,200 per cent in a desperate attempt to stop inflation. The government also ordered shops and businesses to cut prices, often below the cost of production, to try to prop up support for Mr Mugabe's regime.
Foreign ministers also held a discussion on EU-Russian relations and expressed concern at recent belligerent actions by Moscow.