The Convention on the Future of Europe is entering its final stage on the crest of a wave of disagreement between its larger and smaller states. This came to a head last week when the Convention chairman, Mr Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, publicised his own views ahead of those of the praesidium in charge of its proceedings.
A bizarre exercise in leadership, it provoked his fellow executives into a fever of amendment in one long session. As a result, they have come up with a document closer to the views of the Convention's membership which is actually doing the negotiating, in an innovatory exercise in more open governance over the last year.
The challenge they face now is to find a consensus capable of binding such a diverse group of members and views together. They must do so during a period of great political turbulence in European and world politics. That should give them an incentive to succeed.
In an article in this newspaper today Mr John Bruton TD, one of the Convention's vice-presidents, outlines some of the possible bases of compromise and debate involved. He was prominently involved in amending Mr Giscard's proposals in such a way as to appeal to the smaller states which form the solid majority of the existing and enlarged European Union.
A main objective has been to reassert the importance of the European Commission as the main source of representation and legitimacy in the EU system, against the logic of Mr Giscard's proposal, which would tend to transfer that role to the European Council - the summit system that regularly brings political leaders together.
The amendments have succeeded in this task, and have restored a sense of political reality to the concluding stages of the Convention's work. It would be regarded as a failure if it had to report a series of options rather than clear-cut preferences to the forthcoming treaty negotiations between EU member-states. This would be a real pity, since a new dimension has been added to the EU's public policy-making by extending it in this way.
The concluding seven weeks of the Convention's work must cover a huge range of issues and ground. But much has already been agreed, including streamlined decision-making procedures and the need for much clearer statements of constitutional and political principles.
The outstanding issues go to the core of political power-sharing between large and small states. The Government has been in the foreground of the struggle to maintain the balance between them. It has an interest in this, since Ireland will steer the Convention to a conclusion in its six month EU presidency from January next year.