A European Union summit opened in Brussels tonight with France and Germany claiming to have reached a landmark agreement to curb European Union farm subsidies from 2007, unlocking the final phase of negotiations to enlarge the 15-nation bloc.
The deal, clinched just before the start of the summit, should open the way for the European Union to conclude accession talks with 10 mainly east European candidate countries in December so they can join in 2004.
It was the second breakthrough in a week for the ambitious enlargement project, meant to heal Europe's Cold War scars, after Ireland approved the Nice Treaty last weekend.
The Taoiseach, who arrived in Brussels this afternoon, is expected to take the opportunity to discuss Northern Ireland with the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac announced the farm deal after private talks in a Brussels hotel.
"We will both take the position that phasing in (of direct farm aid) to acceding countries will start in 2004. From 2007, spending will be capped and will not increase beyond the rate of inflation up to 2013," Mr Schroeder told reporters.
Mr Chirac confirmed the agreement and said it meant agriculture spending, which accounts for about half the €95 billion EU budget, would be frozen from 2007 at its 2006 level.
"It is our joint will to control expenditure in all areas, not only on agriculture," the French leader said, adding limits should also apply to structural aid to poorer regions and, in his view, to Britain's annual EU budget rebate.
Danish Prime Minister Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, hailed the Franco-German accord, which should help him broker a summit agreement on financial terms to offer the candidates.
"I feel confident that at the end of the day all EU leaders will realise that we are facing a historic moment, we're going to make a historic decision, and this should not be overshadowed by a detailed discussion on budget and agriculture," he said.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Mr Guenter Verheugen spoke of his great relief at the deal, saying it cleared the way for a "perfect landing" for enlargement at a Copenhagen EU summit in mid-December.
"We are relieved. The French-German deal is a step in the right direction," a Polish diplomat said after the summit.