Before he entered the vast, wood-panelled conference room yesterday morning, Brian Cowen knew he had a double mission. He had to reassure Ireland's European Union partners that last week's rejection of the Nice Treaty would not prevent new member-states from joining the Union. And the Foreign Affairs Minister also needed to ensure that the other 14 member-states would co-operate with the Government in addressing the concerns that led to the referendum result.
"I came here to explain the circumstances as best I can. I didn't come here expecting a solution," Mr Cowen said.
The other foreign ministers had arrived at Luxembourg's Council of Ministers building determined to make one thing clear to Mr Cowen: there was no question of renegotiating any part of the Nice Treaty. Anna Lindh, the Swedish Foreign Minister, who chaired the meeting, expressed the position in clear and emphatic terms.
"There is no possibility to open the text of the Nice Treaty again. There is no possibility to change the treaty," she said.
In the course of "a mature, political discussion", Mr Cowen told his fellow ministers the Government was still trying to interpret last week's vote. But he accepted without hesitation that, if a second referendum were to be held, it would be on the basis of an unchanged Nice Treaty.
Talking in the Irish delegation room later, Mr Cowen explained that, although the Government had to take account of the referendum result, it also had to take into consideration the views of our EU partners. "I don't intend for Ireland to be isolated in Europe. That is not in Ireland's interests, and it's my job to protect Ireland's interests," he said.
Throughout the day EU ministers and commissioners insisted repeatedly that Ireland's rejection of the treaty would not be an obstacle to enlargement. Mr Cowen made the same point to ministers from the candidate countries in a series of bilateral meetings which will continue today.
He stressed that the Government and the Irish people remained committed to EU enlargement and that those who voted against the treaty did not do so in order to prevent the people of central and eastern Europe from sharing the benefits of EU membership.
Goran Persson, the Swedish Prime Minister, went off message during a parliamentary debate in Stockholm yesterday afternoon when he said the referendum result did indeed represent a threat to the enlargement timetable. And the truth is that, unless Ireland ratifies the Nice Treaty before the end of next year, there is little prospect of the EU accepting any new members.
By ruling out any renegotiation of the treaty text, our EU partners have effectively declared the referendum result an Irish problem that requires an Irish solution. Mr Cowen admitted yesterday he had no idea what form such a solution might take. But he indicated the Government was considering ways of enhancing parliamentary scrutiny of EU legislation to make the process of EU decision-making more transparent.
As the Minister considers his options, he might care to examine the system in Denmark, the only other EU member-state to reject an EU treaty in a referendum.
Whenever the Commission proposes a new measure, the Danish government consults a wide range of interest groups, including trade unions, employers and non-governmental organisations. In the case of environmental proposals, for example, more than 40 nongovernmental organisations are asked for their views.
The government collates these views and presents a framework document, outlining the possible costs and other consequences of the proposal, to a European Affairs Committee composed of 17 members of parliament drawn from all parties. This document forms the basis of the Danish position at the early stages of EU negotiations.
When a final decision is pending, a majority on the European Affairs Committee must approve the government's negotiating position. The committee, which meets in closed session at the final stage, can define the government's mandate and determine how much room for manoeuvre its negotiators are given.
The system is expensive and time-consuming but, apart from its enhancement of the democratic accountability of EU decisions, it has helped to ensure that Denmark has a better record than most member-states in implementing EU legislation.
Mr Cowen was coy yesterday about one of the major issues of the referendum campaign, Ireland's participation in the Rapid Reaction Force. But he said he would be happy to clarify the status of Ireland's military neutrality, which he said was not affected by the Nice Treaty.
SUCH clarification is likely to take the form of a declaration agreed by all EU member-states reaffirming Ireland's non-aligned status and stressing that participation in all EU military operations will remain a sovereign decision for each member-state.
Irish officials stressed yesterday that the process of finding a way forward after last week's vote was at an early stage and the Minister hinted that a second referendum was unlikely before the end of this year.
One official suggested that the key to success next time could be to "change the nature of the question" voters felt they were answering in a referendum. The debate about Europe's future, which will gather pace when Belgium assumes the EU Presidency next month, could prove fortuitous for the Government.
As voters see politicians throughout Europe discussing ways of making the EU more democratic and more open, they may feel less threatened by the process of political integration.
When Bertie Ahern meets other EU leaders in the Swedish port city of Gothenburg later this week, he is likely to repeat Mr Cowen's conciliatory message.
By ruling out renegotiation of the treaty, the Government will leave itself open to criticism at home. But by reassuring the rest of Europe that Ireland will not block EU enlargement, Mr Cowen may have ensured that our EU partners will co-operate more enthusiastically in the search for a formula that will satisfy Irish voters.
Denis Staunton is Europe Correspondent of The Irish Times