Summit calms nerves and dispels rumours

BY THE time they got to Dublin they were all thoroughly jittery, and the summit that few wanted was badly needed to calm nerves. The German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, in Dublin last week had fuelled speculation that Germany had reduced its ambitions for the Inter Governmental Conference with a reference to a "Maastricht 3" treaty if the necessary work could not be finished this time.

There was talk that the IGC was stalled and a variety of rum ours flying round Brussels, one of which was that Germany was prepared to severely curtail the rights of the Commission.

Then the Dutch Prime Minister, Mr Wim Kok, had muttered inadvisedly about the IGC continuing into next autumn to allow a British Labour Government a decent time to consider its response to proposed treaty changes.

And so the Irish presidency made no bones about what it wanted - a reaffirmation of the agreed timetable for the IGC, particularly its culmination in Amsterdam next June. And it also wanted a strong signal from the member states that they understood the level of ambition and political will required to make changes to see the Union expand to 27 in the next decade without grinding to a halt.

The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, got both commitments, declaring the meeting "very successful". The leaders added to the Irish work schedule only by asking the presidency to produce a short framework document to accompany the draft treaty, setting out areas of agreement and what still needs to be done.

The only change in approach at the IGC working group, whose work had been praised, he said, would be a new emphasis on the fight against crime, specifically drugs and the abuse of children.

Mr Bruton told journalists later he had no doubt that the Irish presidency would meet its target of producing a draft text for the revision of the treaty by December to allow the Union to meet its Amsterdam target. He was also confident the political will existed now to make the changes necessary "to ensure the Union performed effectively well into the next century". Differences such as existed, he said, were of approach, not objective.

That confidence was echoed by the President of the Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, who warned that if they did not meet the Amsterdam deadline the enlargement of the Union would have to be put off - "that time can simply not be made up".

Mr Santer told the leaders they would have to be radical in their approach, particularly to unanimity voting - "unanimity would kill the EU", he said, stressing the need for a clause on flexibility.

He dismissed suggestions that Dr Kohl's Maastricht 3 comment signified a loss of nerve. "I know Chancellor Kohl too well and his commitment to the EU to be worried by his declaration."

Dr Kohl did not pull his punches, telling fellow leaders, when asked by the Danish Prime Minister, Mr Poul Xyrup Rasmussen, about his comment, that any interpretation which suggested a weakening of resolve was "wilful misrepresentation".

The chancellor was also forthright in his call to strengthen the powers of the Commission president in the treaty. And although he said he was cautious about using the words "European FBI" he backed Mr Bruton's recent call for the establishment of such an organisation.

His Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, said that Commission fears were unfounded. "Both the chancellor and I want a strong not weak, Commission," he told one journalist.

Commission sources suggest that some of the talk they had been hearing out of Bonn was coming independently from ministries, and they hoped the chancellor would now assert his authority over wayward colleagues.

Mr Kinkel rammed home Dr Kohl's message to journalists by reiterating core German demands - an end to national vetoes over EU foreign and security policy, the creation of a foreign policy planning unit and a secretary general to represent the EU on the world stage, moves towards a merger of the EU and the Western European Union defence club, and to bring asylum and visa policy under "community" decision making.

Without agreement on such reforms it would be impossible for the EU to open its doors to eastern Europe, Mr Kinkel said. "There will not be any enlargement unless we succeed in our institutional reform," he said.

President Jacques said it was crucial that the IGC within the agreed timetable", and confirmed that France is now ready to give up the national veto on immigration, asylum, visa and frontiers policies - an important shift that leaves Britain more isolated than ever. "The road is prepared for Dublin 2," he said.

"It is better to look before you leap than to leap before you look," the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, warned, reiterating "that I shan't hesitate to say no to ideas that I think are wrong for the interests of Europe as a whole or wrong for the interests of the UK."

But Mr Major's broadside against the advisability of an employment chapter in the treaty was tame, pre conference stuff indeed, not likely to upset his colleagues. At least he didn't mention beef.