BRUSSELS: European Union leaders meeting in Brussels have held firm to previously stated positions on the reform of EU institutions in a proposed constitutional treaty.
Italy, which currently holds the EU Presidency, is considering holding a special summit next month to try to break the deadlock in talks that are due to end in mid-December.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, who represented the Taoiseach at yesterday morning's session of the summit, said the mood of the meeting was constructive. But he welcomed the Italian plan to present a package of proposals for consideration next month.
"It certainly wasn't a decision-making day today but in the conclusions the Presidency drew, they felt they had a clearer view of positions and how they might go about preparing a position paper for further discussions to see if a political consensus can emerge," he said.
Some member-states presented a gloomier view of the meeting, with Sweden's Prime Minister, Mr Goran Persson, predicting that Ireland would have to take over the negotiations next year. "This morning has not taken it all in any way forward. It is my assessment that we will need time also during the Irish presidency. I cannot imagine that this will be ready by December," he said.
Yesterday's meeting focused on plans to create a full-time President of the European Council, to change the composition of the Commission and to introduce a new voting system in the Council of Ministers. Mr Cowen said that there was now broad agreement in favour of a President of the Council, although some details remained to be worked out.
"The treaty draft as it stands on balance meets the requirements. There are, however, further political clarifications being sought which may not need to be inserted into the treaty itself, regarding the competence of the presidency, how it would actually work with other institutions," he said.
Most member-states want to retain the right of every country to nominate a member of the Commission and Mr Cowen predicted that this concept would be reflected in the final reform package.
Poland and Spain are resisting a proposal to abolish the system of weighted votes in the Council of Ministers and to redefine a qualified majority as a majority of member-states representing at least 60 per cent of the EU's population.
Some observers have suggested that Madrid and Warsaw might agree to changing the voting system in return for a restoration of the right of the EU's biggest states to nominate two commissioners, compared to one each for all other member-states. Mr Cowen said that the proposal was likely to be rejected and signalled that the Government would oppose it.
The President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, who attended the discussion on the constitutional treaty, urged the leaders to emphasise the innovative and not to fall back on second-best. Mr Cox said that the European parliament regarded the draft text approved by the Convention on the Future of Europe as an excellent basis for the negotiations.
He welcomed the proposal to appoint a full-time President of the European Council but said that such a figure should have the role of a chairman. "He or she will not be a new head of state, but the guardian of the continuity, the promoter of the consensus and the cohesion of the Union. What is proposed is a new office, not a new institution. Parliament is seeking greater continuity in the work of the European Council, without upsetting the institutional balance," he said.