A clear indication that the political endgame is being reached in the Convention on the Future of Europe came last week when leaders of the seven smallest EU member-states met to coordinate strategy in Luxembourg
It was an unprecedented meeting at this level - and it could herald many more of them when the EU enlarges to 25 members next year.
This meeting agreed a common platform opposing proposals to end the current six-month rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers, sponsored by large states such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain. The "seven dwarfs", as they have been called, reject this. They say a presidency appointed for up to five years would unbalance the EU by reducing the role of the Commission, seen classically as the protector of small state interests. It would also remove a bond of connection between leaders and citizens at a time when conventional rhetoric insists they should be reinforced. They argue that administrative reforms and a more intelligent sharing of tasks by succeeding presidencies can best address existing shortcomings.
A wider grouping of 16 smaller states, including Ireland, has made broadly similar arguments about how EU institutions should be reformed after enlargement. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, met the Belgian prime minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, in Brussels last week to seek greater co-ordination between these groupings of smaller states. A common theme is equality of access to, and representation on, the Commission as a counter balance to the demographic strength of the larger states. That principle has always acted as a guarantee for the smaller ones in accepting extended voting by qualified majority. A larger EU can retain coherence by so deepening integration, rather than by increasing inter-governmental structures.
The Goverment is ready to go along with this agenda, so long as vital interests such as taxation are still protected by the veto. Another major caveat concerns proposed common EU criminal justice rules. Otherwise the last few months has seen an energetic and increasingly effective Irish networking in the Convention, after a slow start following the second Nice referendum. It has been said in criticism of the Convention that it is conducting a debate in public rather than a public debate with citizens about Europe's future.
The final stages of its work between now and the end of June, when it must report to a special EU summit, provides an opportunity to rectify that. Sharp political debate is certainly required on the EU's foreign policy, after the deep divisions on Iraq.