EU: As EU foreign ministers prepare for two days of talks in Naples tomorrow, the Italian presidency has proposed a series of amendments to the draft constitutional treaty.
Some of the changes seek to address key Irish concerns, such as the effect of greater harmonisation of criminal law on Ireland's common law tradition, and conditions for closer co-operation on defence matters.
Under the amendments, countries with a common law system could apply an "emergency brake" to any legislation concerned with harmonising rules of criminal procedure or minimum penalties. This means Ireland could demand that any such measure should be referred to EU leaders, who decide unanimously rather than by qualified majority.
Government officials were last night studying the proposals but senior British officials have indicated in the past that an "emergency brake" would allow them to drop their opposition to abolishing the national veto in these areas.
The amendments clarify conditions under which a group of member-states could co-operate more closely on defence and act in the EU's name. The conditions would be the same as for enhanced co-operation on foreign policy and would need the approval of the Council of Ministers.
The presidency hopes to address the concerns of those who want a specific mention of God in the treaty by referring in the preamble to Europe's Christian heritage, but also to the secular nature of the institutions of EU member-states.
A proposed amendment would guarantee the rights of minorities and equality between men and women.
On the institutional issues, the presidency upholds the proposal in the draft constitution to replace the present system of weighted votes in the Council of Ministers with a "double majority" of half the member-states comprising more than 60 per cent of the EU's population.
In a letter to governments yesterday, however, the presidency acknowledged that there were some concerns among member-states about this proposal.
"It is necessary to continue to reflect on possible ways to respond to these concerns, bearing in mind the shared overall objective of having simple, efficient and transparent decision-making procedures," it said.
There is no proposed change to the articles outlining how the Commission should be composed, with only 15 Commissioners having voting rights. But the presidency suggests that non-voting Commissioners should be allowed to attend Commission meetings and to have substantial policy portfolios.
The draft treaty would allow EU leaders to decide unanimously to abolish the national veto on any policy area except defence. 'The presidency wants to allow a certain number of national parliaments to block such a move.
Although the amendments address some concerns expressed by member-states, some officials expressed disappointment yesterday that the presidency had not called for bolder changes that could help to break the deadlock on the institutional issues.
Diplomats complain that Italy has taken an unexpectedly sluggish approach to the IGC and that the Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, failed to take the opportunity presented in recent bilateral meetings with other leaders to push for compromise.
If EU leaders fail to agree on a final text of the treaty at a summit in Brussels next month, it will fall to the Irish presidency to negotiate a deal early next year.