ALL 15 EU member states agree that the EU must reform itself. With a dozen states seeking admission to the EU, all accept that the complex decision making structures would grind to a halt or collapse under the weight of enlarged membership. The problem is they can't agree on what reforms should be put in place.
Everyone agrees, for example, that the power of veto given to each state over many EU decisions must be reduced. Otherwise, it will become impossible to have an EU decision on anything requiring unanimity - out of perhaps 27 member states at least one is bound to object to each proposal.
While each state understands the principle, however, there has been no progress towards agreeing the practice. Each member state has pointed to areas in which it wants to retain its veto. Ireland, for example, might want to retain a veto in discussions over the future of Structural Funds. Other states have their own areas in which they do not want to see majority voting. The exceptions put forward by the member states add up to a good sized herd of sacred cows.
Since last March, reform of EU treaties has been discussed intensively at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) of the EU effectively the Union's constitutional convention. This body has been under Irish chairmanship since June and is due to continue its deliberations until the end of the Dutch presidency in June, 1997.
The simplification of decision making procedures is just one of the issues at the IGC. There are other proposals, for example, to remove the automatic right of each state to appoint a European Commissioner; to strengthen the powers of the European Parliament; to strengthen the Common Foreign and Security Policy; to increase EU authority on immigration, asylum and other justice and home affairs issues; and to write a chapter on employment into the new treaty.
Negotiations with applicant EU members are due to begin six months after the successful completion of the IGC. Enlargement is dependent on agreement being reached on sufficiently radical reforms.
Under the Irish presidency, it was hoped real negotiations would begin at the IGC. Ireland was mandated at Florence to produce drafts of amended EU treaties by December. Some key issues would not be agreed by then, and these would be left to be agreed at the latest by next June, at the summit in Amsterdam.
Today's informal Dublin summit, half way through the Irish presidency, was expected to give some political impetus to the deliberations. But in recent weeks, fears have emerged that the ambition for radical reform may be waning within some states and that the IGC timetable could be extended beyond the Amsterdam summit.
This morning, the Financial Times reports that France and Germany have decided to scale back their ambitions for the IGC. According to the report, Chancellor Kohl and President Chirac believe that the avoidance of a divisive debate on the EU treaties will allow the Union to concentrate on the launch of Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. It would also defuse the long running conflict between Europhiles and the Euro sceptics of Britain's Conservative Party.
Reports of this nature have been circulating for several weeks and have been strongly denied by senior German political figures.
But pessimism remains. Last weekend, the French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette, maintained that "we have not made even half a centimetre of progress" in the IGC.
On Thursday in Dublin, the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, also acknowledged the fear that the IGC may not agree radical enough EU reform.
If the EU is not strengthened sufficiently and its decision making procedures reformed, he would push for yet another IGC to reform Maastricht, he said. This could be needed before the Union begins to enlarge by admitting Cyprus, Malta and central and east European states.
Dr Kohl's intention may have been to frighten member states into reaching agreements by threatening yet more years of labyrinthine debate on the future of Europe if they do not. British political leaders in particular must dread the idea that a debate on Europe will drag on until the end of the century, dominating domestic British politics for another government term.
There will be no conclusions reached at today's meeting, Mr Bruton repeated yesterday. The gathering "will give heads of state and government an opportunity to have a frank exchange of views on the challenges facing the European Union and on how to get the best result from the Intergovernmental Conference".
This "frank exchange of views", according to senior officials, is intended to prepare the ground for a serious discussion - and hopefully substantial agreement - at the December summit in Dublin. There will be no formal communique after today's discussions.
Irish officials say they are aware of the fears that the IGC will not reach radical conclusions, or will drag on and on, thus delaying EU enlargement. But they remain upbeat. "The timetable must be stuck to and the level of ambition must remain," one official says.