The European Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, has said EU enlargement can proceed even if the Nice Treaty is not ratified. But he expressed concern at Ireland's rejection of the treaty and promised to listen closely to the Irish people during a three-day visit beginning today in Dublin.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Prodi said the issues of enlargement and the ratification of the Nice Treaty should be treated separately. Under the Amsterdam Treaty of 1998, the EU can accept up to five new members, making a total of 20.
However, the Commission President maintained that the EU could accept more than five new member-states without ratifying Nice.
"Legally, ratification of the Nice Treaty is not necessary for enlargement. It's without any problem up to 20 members, and those beyond 20 members have only to put in the accession agreement some notes of change, some clause. But legally, it's not necessary.
"This doesn't mean the Irish referendum is not important. But from this specific point of view, enlargement is possible without Nice," he said.
Mr Prodi will attend a State dinner in his honour in Dublin Castle this evening and during his visit will meet leaders of the No to Nice campaign as well as Government ministers, opposition leaders and representatives of the social partners. At University College Cork tomorrow he will make a speech clarifying his vision for Europe's future.
Insisting that the primary purpose of his visit was to listen, Mr Prodi said he would not advise the Government on whether to call a second referendum on Nice. And he said there should be no pressure from Brussels in the meantime.
"You must feel yourselves free to choose and there cannot be pressure or arm-twisting or blackmail," he said.
Mr Prodi rejected suggestions that a speech he made a week before the referendum, in which he called for an EU tax, had influenced the result. He said that a decision by Ireland to block the Nice Treaty would send an important signal about the direction of Europe.
"Of course this is a serious problem even without impeding enlargement. Also because it was a referendum in which the Nice issues were mainly absent. I tried to observe the campaign and it was a campaign on sentiments, so the problem is, has the Irish attitude towards Europe changed? This is my real point. It is even more serious than a No to Nice," he said.
The Commission President suggested that Ireland's new-found prosperity could have played a role in the referendum in so far as people who are doing well fear change.
"It's not different from the situation in some other countries in a very good situation economically and in terms of vision for the future, in terms of social equilibrium, in terms of not having any big dangers. In this situation people say, `why change?' " he said.
Mr Prodi declined to comment on remarks by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, describing the referendum result as a healthy development for democracy. But he dismissed a suggestion by the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, that the EU was taking on the attributes of a super-state. Mr Prodi insisted that pooling sovereignty in some areas was the only way nation states could retain influence in the modern world.
Admitting that the referendum result surprised him, Mr Prodi said he was worried it may express a deep feeling of resentment towards Europe.
