Germany and France are both keen to see a European constitution agreed during Ireland's presidency of the EU, according to a senior German source.
The official also rejected suggestions that Germany and France were not in full agreement on the issue ahead of discussions on Friday.
"We both always said that a deal must be struck by the end of the year and that it is desirable to do this under the Irish presidency," the official who refused to be named said.
The constitution proposes introducing a "double majority" voting system in which support from at least half the member states representing at least 60 percent of the Union's population is required for most decisions to be adopted.
The issue has proved the main stumbling block to agreement with Spain and Poland dissenting because their voting weight, which a similar to that of the Union's biggest states, would be diminished.
One idea floated by Ireland is that the double majority thresholds would shift to 55 percent, preventing the EU's biggest three members - Germany, France and Britain - from being able to block a decision on their own.
Another compromise suggested by Ireland would slightly raise both thresholds, making it easier for medium-sized countries to block decisions, and would delay implementation of the new system until 2014 instead of 2009.
German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schroeder said after talks with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris yesterday that a deal could be reached under Irish EU presidency, which ends June 30th.
"It is up to the willigness of one or the other partner in Europe to move - one especially and the other, too," Mr Schroeder said in apparent reference to Poland and Spain.
Mr Chirac said a new constitution should be adopted by the end of the year and the final text should be as close as possible to the draft. Spain's change of government in Sunday's election following the Madrid train bombs last week unexpectedly improved the outlook for a deal, German officials said. Election winner Mr Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged to be flexible on the issue.
And Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has acknowledged the result has weakened their position. He said the Polish and German foreign ministers were working on a package of possible solutions, and Mr Schroeder's visit to Warsaw just two days before the March 25-26 summit could help the search for a compromise.
REUTERS
Additional reporting Paul Anderson