SPAIN: The Spanish Prime Minister said yesterday he would consider proposals to modify the system of voting in the European Council, as the Taoiseach continued an intensive round of talks with EU leaders.
After talks with Mr Ahern in Madrid, Mr José María Aznar said his country was "willing to be as open and constructive as possible on the issue" which was the main obstacle to agreement of an EU constitutional treaty at the Brussels summit in December.
That summit, chaired by Italian Prime Minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi, broke up without agreement after Spain and Poland insisted that a complex system of voting agreed at Nice in 2000 be retained, while France and Germany demanded that it be changed.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister, Mr Cowen, yesterday gave an upbeat assessment of the prospects for reviving talks on the treaty.
After chairing discussions among EU foreign ministers in Brussels, the first since the negotiations collapsed in December, Mr Cowen said the general view was that a new treaty was needed "sooner rather than later".
He said the talks, which went on for more than an hour over lunch, demonstrated "strong encouragement" for Ireland's approach as president of the council of ministers.
"It's not a question of taking premature or precipitate action but there is a desire to proceed with a real sense of urgency," he said. Mr Aznar's suggestion of flexibility comes as Mr Ahern works to prepare a report for a European Council meeting in March on the prospects for agreement of the treaty.
While saying yesterday that he saw "no real reason" to change the European Council voting system, Mr Aznar said he was open to discussing "different possibilities, new clauses better approaches new systems".
He is to quit as Prime Minister after a general election on May 14th, but his party is expected to be returned to power.
Under the current arrangement Spain and Poland have 27 votes each in the European Council, just two votes less than France and Germany. However, Spain has just half the population of Germany which, together with France, wants the system changed to reflect their larger populations.
Mr Ahern will meet the Polish Prime Minister, Mr Leszek Miller, in Dublin on Thursday, and by the end of this week will have met or spoken to the leaders of all 14 other member-states and of the 10 that will join on May 1st.
At a joint press conference with Mr Aznar yesterday the Taoiseach restated his commitment to "doing all we can" to reach a deal on a treaty. "There is a lot of work to do Whether we are successful or not is for another day."
Concern remains that with a Spanish election campaign about to begin and Poland's government in a weak position, each may be reluctant to consider compromise. Speculation persists that France feels no pressure to compromise either, and may be willing to use a failure to agree in order to press for a two-speed Europe with an integrationist core moving ahead of the rest.
Mr Aznar, meanwhile, rejected suggestions that Spanish intransigence over the voting system had led to the failure of the Brussels summit and said it was unfair "to have the finger pointed at us".
If the attempt to agree the treaty did not succeed, "I don't know who will be responsible for the lack of agreement but it won't be Spain".
Mr Cowen said there were good reasons for getting the new constitution settled and out of the way.
There was, he said, "a fair degree of realisation that we need, if we can, to resolve this matter before the European elections if that is possible".
But he said he did not want and had not allowed the foreign ministers to get into substantive detail, so there had been no discussion of voting rights.
The Polish Foreign Minister, Mr Cimoszewicz, repeated his now familiar line, that Poland was open to solutions but wished to stick to the voting system of the Nice Treaty.
Mr Cowen explained that the presidency was consulting with individual governments and intended to give further opportunities for collective discussion before making the requested formal report to the next European summit.
"The March European Council will be an important reference point," he said.
Mr Cowen characterised the discussion in positive terms. "Words like 'compromise' and 'generosity' were used by many," he said. Asked if any words had been used that he did not like, he said no.