The Minister for Foreign Affairs sought yesterday to reassure countries hoping to join the EU that last week's rejection of the Nice Treaty was not a vote against EU enlargement.
At bilateral meetings in Luxembourg, Mr Cowen told his counterparts from 11 of the 12 candidate countries that the Government remained committed to the enlargement process.
The foreign ministers told Mr Cowen that, although they acknowledged that there were complex reasons behind last week's result, the broader public in central and eastern Europe were likely to view the vote as a slap in the face for their ambition to join the EU.
Press comment in some candidate countries has become more sharply critical of the referendum result, which some newspapers have characterised as an expression of Irish selfishness. The Czech Foreign Minister, Mr Jan Kavan, said he had followed the referendum campaign and believed that many of the fears expressed about Nice were unfounded.
"Unfortunately, if the Irish do not change their collective mind, it will mean a big sacrifice for enlargement," he said.
Mr Cowen will meet ambassadors from the 12 candidate countries in Dublin this morning and will hold further talks with Slovenia's Foreign Minister, Mr Dimitrij Rupel, who visits Ireland today.
Sweden yesterday played down the impact of the referendum result on Friday's meeting of EU leaders in Gothenburg. The Foreign Minister, Ms Anna Lindh, said excellent progress had been made in negotiations with the candidate countries during Sweden's six-month EU Presidency. But EU diplomats say that the leaders are unlikely to name a date at this week's summit for accepting the first new members.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will discuss the referendum result with his EU counterparts on Friday and will meet leaders from the candidate countries on Saturday.
Ireland's vote has created divisions within Austria's right-wing government, with the far-right Freedom Party calling for an Austrian referendum on enlargement. The Chancellor, Dr Wolfgang Schussel, said yesterday that such a vote would be inappropriate.
