European Union leaders meeting in Florence today and tomorrow will be greatly relieved if a way can be found to resolve the beef crisis with Britain - and they are increasingly confident that they will be able to do so. This will allow them to concentrate on a busy wider agenda. The Italians are very anxious to round off their presidency with a negotiating success on the beef issue and an effective wrap up of the other main business on employment, monetary union and a coherent report on the Inter Governmental Conference (IGC). There is a strong Irish interest, since this European Council will set the agenda for Ireland's presidency, which begins on July 1st.
It would be hard to imagine a more difficult presidency for Ireland than one in which the British continued their policy of non co operation with EU decision making. The deal now on offer to Mr Major's government from the European Commission on BSE is tough but fair and a tribute to Mr Jacques Santer's perseverance. He has had to balance the need to find a scientifically valid means of eliminating the diseased and capable of convincing all member states to support it, with a desire to facilitate the British government in ending their non co operation policy. He has managed to do so without setting precedents for other states to take similar disruptive action; it is now up to Mr Major to retreat as best he can from a policy of confrontation that has done more harm than good to Britain's interests. As Mr Santer aptly put it: "The prejudice summoned up by this crisis is acute. The European Council gives us a chance for a turning point - let us take it".
Mr Santer will be anxious to see progress made on his plans for a pact on employment by a commitment to finance the trans European communications and infrastructural networks that have already been agreed in principle. This chimes in well with Ireland's ambition to make employment a central part of its presidential term. There is a danger that such an aspiration could fall flat if insufficient resources or political commitment are devoted to it.
But the Government is absolutely right to insist that the EU must be made relevant to people's every day concerns by addressing such is sues squarely. There will be some discussion at this Council on how to bring forward plans for the single currency, notably the relationship between those who are members and those who are not and on how to co operate more effectively against the trade in drugs, both of which will be important topics for the Irish presidency.
The heads of state and government hope to have sufficient time to discuss a report on progress in the IGC, to mark its passage from the stage of discussion to the stage of negotiating engagement during Ireland's presidency. The span of issues is large and ambitious covering security, defence and foreign policy, and institutional representation and balance in addition to the issues such as employment that are of most direct concern to European citizens. The Government wears two hats in these talks, a presidential one and a national interest one, which will tax its political capacity to the limit.
It remains to be seen whether the beef issue sufficiently overshadows the IGC discussion as to stimulate suggestions from the French and German governments that a special informal summit might be held in the autumn to consider it further.