EU: The Foreign Minister, Mr Cowen, will today take a first tentative step towards reviving talks on a constitution for the European Union, writes Tim King in Brussels
As chairman of today's meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Mr Cowen has scheduled a discussion of the constitution over lunch. It will be the EU's first collective discussion of the subject since December's summit meeting broke up in acrimonious failure.
After the Italians failed to broker a deal, it was left to the Government, as successors to the EU presidency, to pick up the pieces. The Taoiseach and Mr Cowen were charged with reporting to the next European summit in March on the prospects for resuscitating the treaty talks.
Although today's discussion is keenly awaited in all EU capitals, government officials are playing down expectations, describing it as an early chance to consult their partners.
"We do not want to set the EU up for another high-profile failure," one said. "The difficulties that existed in December are still there. We are working our way slowly and methodically through the consultations."
The immediate cause of December's failure was disagreement between Spain and Poland on the one hand and France and Germany on the other over the number of votes they would hold in the council of ministers.
Mr Cowen has a separate meeting scheduled today with Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. He met the German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, last week and the Spanish Foreign Minister, Ms Ana Palacio, last Thursday. He will meet his French counterpart, Mr Dominique de Villepin, on Friday.
Mr Ahern is on a similar diplomatic campaign, meeting the Spanish premier, Mr José María Aznar, today in Madrid and the Polish premier, Mr Leszek Miller, on Thursday.
The foreign ministers will also make their almost customary assessment of the diplomatic hotspots of the world, including the Middle East and Iran. But the Irish presidency is keen to avoid issuing ritual statements that merely repeat previous conclusions.
This desire to maintain a no-nonsense, businesslike approach has prompted an Irish innovation: a switch after lunch to a smaller meeting room. Mr Cowen believes that the vastness of the meeting room that is usually used is unhelpful. The problem has worsened now that ministers and officials from the 10 acceding countries join the discussions. The Irish presidency will use a smaller room in the afternoon session, with only the 25 foreign ministers around the table and only two other officials from each country allowed to attend.
Among the more contentious subjects on the (smaller) table, at the urging of the French, will be whether to lift an embargo on arms sales to China. The suggestion has been frowned on by the US. The expectation is that the matter will be referred to officials for further discussions, to report back to foreign ministers later in the Irish presidency. The most difficult item on the agenda will probably be the proposed pay reform for MEPs.
The Irish presidency will probably see greater success with an item they are keen to champion: improving the effectiveness of the EU's aid to developing countries. The European Commissioners responsible will be reporting on progress in improving the speed at which the EU delivers aid.
The Government is keen to see those reforms continue, and to improve measurement of the quality of aid.