Ahern hopes to speed up reform during Ireland's EU presidency

The Taoiseach has told EU leaders that he will seek to speed up reforms aimed at making Europe the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world during Ireland's presidency of the European Union next year.

Mr Ahern has written to fellow leaders warning that planned targets are not being met and has sought their support for a "short and constructive" European Council meeting to address this.

In his letter, the Taoiseach wrote: "The twin priorities of growth and employment will be the main focus of our presidency. Europe has made significant progress in implementing the reforms necessary to become the world's most competitive and dynamic economy.

"There are now positive signs that the international economy is on the upturn. If we are to reap the maximum benefits from this recovery, we must urgently press ahead with implementing further reforms."

These reforms were set out at a special meeting in Lisbon in March 2000, when agreement was reached on a 10-year strategy aimed at making Europe more competitive, capable of sustaining growth with better jobs and providing for greater social cohesion.

Mr Ahern also said it was important that social dialogue underpinned its approach and he said the presidency would work with social partners to boost their involvement in many of the planned changes and reforms arising from the Lisbon agenda.

In a statement yesterday, he said: "Ireland has demonstrated the advantages of social dialogue as a means of encouraging economic growth, through the partnership model, and I believe that this area is one that we can try to encourage at European level for the benefit of all European citizens."

Ireland's presidency will see the enlargement of the EU to 25 member-states in 2004. It is also likely that talks over a draft EU constitution could spill over into Ireland's six-month presidency, which begins in January.

Progress on signing-off on the new constitution has slowed due to disputes over areas such as taxation, justice and defence.

It is also planned to hold an EU-US summit in Ireland during the presidency, although a date has yet to be finalised.

Mr Ahern has spoken separately about the need to repair relations between Europe and the US following the circumstances surrounding the war on Iraq. It is expected that issues relating to foreign policy, economic and trade relations and other areas for co-operation will be discussed during this summit.

In his letter to EU leaders, Mr Ahern said economic and political conditions represented a considerable "challenge" to achieving the goals set out at Lisbon.

He wrote: "Conditions in the EU today are very different from those that prevailed in March 2000. The combination of political uncertainty and tough economic conditions, along with the considerable challenges of achieving reforms in an enlarged Union, are placing considerable strain on our efforts to achieve the Lisbon goal."