THE BEEF war might be over. Its effects most certainly are not, and not least in the treaty changing Inter Governmental Conference. In yesterday's debate on the IGC, beef was most definitely centre stage.
The Belgian Prime Minister Mr Jean Luc Dehaene, once vetoed by the British Prime Minister for the Commission President's job, said that the treaty must be amended to ensure that member states can not disrupt business in this way. He suggested some form or sanctions against members involved in what some ministers described as "serial vetoing".
Later, the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, said there was an understanding of the need to allow members to vote down individual measures that threatened vital national interests but blanket vetoes were another matter.
Mr Dehaene was supported at the meeting by the German Chancellor, Dr Kohl, and the Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis - ironically, the latter yesterday again exercised a longstanding Turkey related national veto on aid to the Mediterranean region.
The EU leaders yesterday avoided a detailed debate on the meat of the IGC but called on Ireland to put the conference into a new gear and set the ambitious target of a draft treaty for the Dublin summit in December.
The decision to call a special full summit of leaders is intended to spur the process which, leaders, believe, must enter a decisively new phase of discussion. Until now, the conference has seen largely a reiteration of national positions, now it must move to negotiation, the summit declaration is likely to say.
The challenge faced by Mr Spring and his personal representative on the IGC, Mr Noel Dorr, is enormously complex but Mr Spring said yesterday that they would approach the issue with a target of concluding the conference by December.
But, in the real world, he admitted, not least because of British opposition in many key areas, the likelihood was of a Dutch conclusion to the IGC.
The Irish could do much, he said, to "clear the decks". A draft treaty in Dublin will necessarily involve multiple choices and, many paragraphs of bracketed text, the diplomatic way of marking disputed words or clauses.
The British problem - a general election may not happen until May - is worrying the Dutch who succeed Ireland in the presidency.
