AN INTENSIVE three day meeting in Cork next weekend is likely to give an indication of how much 055 the Irish presidency can make towards producing a draft new EU treaty, the Taoiseach said last night.
The informal IGC meeting is intended to give new impetus to the negotiations, which have moved slowly since they began on March 29th in Turin.
There are major differences between member states on proposals such as introducing more majority voting, bringing European defence issues under EU competence and increasing the power of the European Parliament.
"Ireland will be forcing the pace in as much as we can from the chair" at the Cork meeting, according to Mr Bruton. "We will discover the intentions of the participants and see how we can go on from there."
The Florence summit two weeks ago requested that Ireland attempt to produce a complete draft treaty by the December summit in Dublin. Mr Bruton stressed, however, that the IGC worked as a consensus.
"It is a question of finding how much consensus we will be able to build and in how many areas," he said.
Speaking as he went in to a dinner attended by the Cabinet and the European Commission Mr Bruton also repeated the Government's intention to use the presidency to take steps to tackle unemployment and deal with Europe's drugs and crime problems. "We have very precise objectives," he said.
The European Commission President, Mr Jacques Santer, said the Commission was looking forward to working with the Irish presidency. "The Irish priorities are also the priorities we have the fight against unemployment, creating Europe for its citizens, combating crime and drug trafficking, dealing With the IGC.
The Irish would also face external problems such as how best to support the Middle East peace process and deal with former Yugoslavia.
Earlier, when he arrived at Dublin Airport, Mr Santer said: "The presidencies of small countries are sometimes much more useful than others" because such states have "no political ambitions, only the ambition to serve".
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, said the priorities of the presidency were well known. "We are determined to ensure we have an effective and efficient presidency, in co operation with the Commission."