There will almost certainly be a referendum in Ireland to ratify the EU Treaty changes agreed at Nice, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has indicated.
In an early morning press conference in Nice yesterday after the final deal was agreed, Mr Ahern also drew attention to the fact that Ireland will play a significant role in the next EU Treaty negotiation, due to conclude in 2004. Ireland will hold the EU Presidency in the first half of that year and may be charged with chairing the final negotiations.
Mr Ahern said he would consult the Attorney General and his staff as to whether a referendum was needed to approve the Nice changes. If there is any doubt a referendum would be held he said.
After over four days of negotiation at the longest EU summit on record, Mr Ahern yesterday called the treaty as "a good deal for the union, and a good deal for Ireland".
He continued: "I am convinced the treaty strikes the right balance between the need to ensure effective decision-making in an enlarged union and protecting the essential interests of member states."
Referring to the length of the discussions at Nice he remarked: "The long sessions suit us guys."
He called for the negotiations with applicants to "move full steam ahead" to ensure the enlargement of the EU could happen quickly. Progress towards enlargement was now largely in the hands of the applicants, he said.
He said the final and most difficult part of the deal - the reweighting of votes at the European Council - represented a "reasonable compromise".
"In our case I am particularly pleased that we have maintained our ranking with Denmark and Finland, and will continue to have the same weight as these two countries."
He and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, hailed the retention of unanimity in the area of taxation as "a significant and major victory for Ireland, won against significant opposition".
He also expressed satisfaction that the area of social partnership has not been made subject to majority voting, thus protecting Ireland's right to conduct such matters as it sees fit.
However, he said Ireland had made a significant contribution to securing agreement, and despite its implacable opposition to any majority voting in the area of taxation, had been flexible in other areas.
"Of the 49 provisions proposed for transfer to qualified majority voting (QMV) we had serious difficulties in only two areas, both of which as I have explained, were satisfactorily resolved."
He welcomed other changes sought by Ireland, including the bringing of the commercial aspects of intellectual property within the scope of EU Commercial policy.
"We conceded a lot on qualified majority voting and on enhanced co-operation but we have got things we can live with. There are 160 million extra people coming into the union. We are a trading country; we trade more than anybody else. We export pro rata more than anybody else so it's in our interests to have more people we can be trading with."
He said that while the automatic right to nominate a member of the EU Commission would end once the EU reaches 27 members, there would then be "a rotation system based on strict equality among member states. This provides a valuable reassurance that the interests of all member states will be fully protected when such a system comes into effect".
The reduction in Ireland's European Parliament representation from 15 to 12 was at the top of the range expected.