The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, will attempt today to persuade EU finance ministers to drop a call for the Government to reverse some effects of last December's Budget.
But most EU member-states appear determined to retain the demand, which formed the substance of February's unprecedented reprimand from the EU over Ireland's Budget policies.
EU officials say that Thursday's referendum on the Nice Treaty is unlikely to affect today's discussion on the EU's Broad Economic Policy Guidelines for 2001. They insist the guidelines will be an issue in Thursday's referendum only if the Government makes them one.
At today's meeting in Luxembourg, EU finance ministers will agree a final text for the guidelines for each member-state, which will be sent to heads of government for approval at next week's summit in the Swedish city of Gothenberg.
Treasury officials from the 15 member-states have already agreed modifications to a text proposed by the Economics Commissioner, Mr Pedro Solbes. But they made only a slight adjustment to the key demand for anti-inflationary measures by the Government within this fiscal year.
The Commission's text said that Ireland's budgetary policy should aim to "remove the inconsistency with the 2000 Broad Economic Policy Guidelines, engendered by the budget plans for 2001, with countervailing budgetary measures during the current fiscal year".
Irish officials sought to persuade the EU's Economic and Financial Committee to drop the demand altogether. Instead, the revised text asks the Government to "use countervailing budgetary measures to better align the budget plans for 2001 with the 2000 Broad Economic Policy Guidelines".
February's reprimand was based on the principle that the combination of tax cuts and public spending increases in last December's Budget breached the 2000 guidelines by fuelling inflation. Mr McCreevy is expected to argue today that subsequent events have shown the EU's anxiety over Irish inflation to be misplaced.
Although other member-states will also seek changes to the guidelines, there is little sign that they will support Mr McCreevy. The Commission will report later this year on Ireland's progress in implementing February's call for action and until then, the finance ministers are unlikely to change their analysis of the risk of inflation.
Although today's decision could be unpopular in Ireland, the finance ministers show no sign of giving in to Mr McCreevy's demand. EU officials suggested that to drop the reference to last year's Budget because of the referendum would amount to "cheating".
One official said the purpose of the guidelines was to be open about EU economic policies and that it would not be fair to the Irish people or to other Europeans to change the guidelines for political reasons. "Unless the Irish Government makes it an issue in the referendum, it won't be an issue," the official said.
