Iers voorzitterschap constateert nog steeds patstelling over Grondwet (en)

Irish Prime Minister and current head of the EU Bertie Ahern has issued a wake-up call to his European counterparts on the urgency of making progress on the stalled Constitution talks.

Speaking yesterday (3 March), Mr Ahern underlined that if some member states do not alter their positions soon, it will be impossible for the Irish EU Presidency to reconvene a meeting after the Spring Summit to specifically deal with the Treaty blueprint.

"I don't think we will move to the situation of recommending an IGC (inter-governmental conference) unless we could make substantial more ground than we are at the moment", said the Irish prime minister.

"We can't make that call until we have realistic proposals that we think would get broad agreement".

These final weeks before the EU summit on 25-26 March are crucial for the Constitution negotiations which collapsed in December over the proposed new voting system.

At the summit itself, Dublin will present a progress report to the rest of the member states; on the basis of how much has been agreed in the run up to the summit, EU leaders will then decide whether to call another IGC.

However, so far, the key players in the breakdown of the negotiations - France, Germany, Poland and Spain - have not budged.

Much hope is being pinned on the Spanish elections, on 14 March, which will see prime minister José Maria Aznar - who adopted a hard-line position on the Constitution - stepping down.

But for the moment, Ireland, which is keen to play down the expectations of success is sounding a pessimistic note.

"If the meeting was tomorrow, we wouldn't be as far as I would like to be", said Mr Ahern.