Events in the European Union have moved on smartly since Irish voters accepted the Nice Treaty ten days ago. Their decision made the task of last week's EU summit in Brussels, preparing the way for EU enlargement, much easier. On the basis of a Franco-German understanding on the Common Agricultural Policy, the summit agreed financial terms for the candidate countries, put to them yesterday at a meeting in Copenhagan.
It looks as if the final terms can now be agreed by December, allowing this historic enlargement to proceed on time by 2004.
The Franco-German initiative on funding the CAP came as a surprise, but was quickly seen as a constructive compromise which had something to please all the major parties to these negotiations. Its basic elements were accepted by the Brussels summit, so that CAP funding will be guaranteed until 2006 and thereafter frozen at existing levels, with some inflation-proofing. It was a courageous gesture by Mr Gerhard Schröder early in his new term.
For the candidate states the summit agreement confirms the offer to them based on 25 per cent of existing CAP subsidies, but they will welcome the removal of a potential obstacle arising from EU disagreement on how to handle the CAP issue. Along with Irish ratification of Nice this is a major step forward for their plans to join the EU in timely and agreed fashion. As a result, they will have the opportunity to participate in future budgetary and treaty negotiations as equal partners in coming years. That political equality outweighs the evident disadvantages of the offer put to them yesterday in Copenhagan.
This whole affair raises the longer term question of how adequate the EU budget is for the ambitious political and developmental tasks the Union faces. Set at a maximum 1.27 per cent of the Union's gross domestic product, it is quite inadequate to fund the cohesion policies necessary for a continental-sized political entity. Ireland is now making the transition to net contributor status within the EU. But this should not blind political leaders here to the need for more extensive funding that can close the gaps in levels of development between newer and older members over coming years.
Such questions will be addressed in the next EU Treaty to be agreed by 2004. Its likely level of ambition is heralded in the skeleton constitution published yesterday in Brussels by the Convention's president, Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
The basic architecture of a possible constitutional treaty is set out in the draft, but the detailed content remains to be agreed. Ireland's representatives on the Convention can afford to think constructively about that content, drawing confidence from the result of the referendum and the greater public awareness brought about by the campaign. This document signals that the serious and interesting part of the Convention's work is now beginning.