Bilaterale onderhandelingen tussen lidstaten leiden niet tot voortgang (en)

Following a series of meetings between member states themselves and between member states and the Irish Presidency, EU governments continue to play their cards very close to their chests.

Talks between the French, German and Polish Foreign Ministers in Berlin on Friday (16 January) tested the ground for a possible compromise.

However, there was little sign of this as only Poland's Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz spoke to the press afterwards announcing that a deal may be "possible within the next weeks".

Today, Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, is in Dublin to meet representatives from the Irish Presidency for talks on the treaty text.

The meeting is likely to touch on the issue of a two-speed Europe, something which both Germany and France have been threatening the rest of the member states with, if a deal is not reached.

Ireland, on the other hand, remains strongly opposed to the idea arguing simply that it does not see where and how a two-speed Europe would work.

Meanwhile, the Irish Independent reports that Irish Premier Bertie Ahern is set to discuss the Constitution with his UK counterpart Tony Blair during a meeting in London on Northern Ireland.

This will be the first time that the two meet following Dublin's announcement that the two basic texts they will be using for discussion will be the Convention's text and the text following a meeting in Naples in November last year.

Testing ground

This means any back-room agreements from the December Summit - where talks fell apart over the contested voting system - now no longer apply, putting the UK's red line issues - such as keeping the veto in tax and foreign policy - into the open field once again.

This series of meetings comes just days before all EU foreign ministers will gather (26 January) for a regular Council meeting in Brussels - the meeting will be used as a testing ground for a possible breakthrough on the Constitution.

Based on this and other talks, Ireland will draw up a report on the state of play for a meeting of EU leaders in March.