EU: The European Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, and the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, have called for negotiations on the EU's constitutional treaty to be completed during the Irish presidency.
Speaking in Berlin, the two men praised the presidency's skill in advancing the negotiations following the collapse of last December's summit in Berlin.
Mr Schröder declined to speak in detail about what progress had been made and warned that, despite the presidency's "first-class" work, a deal before the end of June was far from certain. "There are chances for it, but resistance too," he said.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and Italy's Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, also called yesterday for a deal on the treaty before the end of June. In a joint letter to the Irish Presidency, the two leaders offered their "full support" to attempts to find an early resolution of the remaining difficulties.
Speaking at a joint news conference in Rome, both leaders pointed to their letter as proof that last month's three-way Berlin summit between France, Germany and the UK had done no harm to bilateral relations between Italy and the UK.
"There has never been and never will be any question of a directory [excluding Italy\] . . . The joint letter that we have sent to Bertie Ahern is proof of that. This \ relationship is a strong one and I can only see it getting stronger", said Mr Blair.
In their letter, the two prime ministers emphasise the need for the Irish Presidency to promote measures which would "stimulate economic growth, create jobs and increase the overall competitivity of the EU economies". The letter also called for measures which would reduce bureaucratic red tape, guarantee a more dynamic and flexible labour market and stimulate research and development.
The Taoiseach will decide later this month whether to recommend to EU leaders that formal negotiations on the constitutional treaty should resume in April.
Mr Ahern hopes to have found agreement on a number of outstanding issues before EU leaders meet in Brussels on March 25th.
The most serious disagreement is over how member-states should vote in the Council of Ministers, with Germany and France favouring a system based on population size while Spain and Poland want to retain the system of weighted voting agreed at Nice.
Mr Prodi and Mr Schröder also discussed who should succeed the Commission President in November. Earlier, Mr Schröder met the former prime minister of Finland, Mr Paavo Lipponen, who has said that he would like the job. Mr Lipponen's chances of success are diminished by the fact that he is a social democrat. The conservative European People's Party, which is expected to win the largest number of seats in June's European Parliament elections, has threatened to block any candidate from the centre-left.
Among the conservative politicians tipped to succeed Mr Prodi are Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, and Austria's Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schüssel. Mr Juncker is believed to be interested in the post despite the fact that he is seeking re-election in Luxembourg this summer.
Mr Schüssel would be a controversial choice because he shares power with Dr Jörg Haider's far-right Freedom Party and was boycotted by other EU leaders for six months after his government was formed.