BRUSSELS: The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, meets his Belgian counterpart, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, in Brussels today in an effort to establish a common approach to key issues at the Convention on the Future of Europe.
The meeting follows an agreement in Luxembourg on Tuesday night by the leaders of seven small EU member-states to work together to prevent a shift of power in the EU away from the European Commission.
The leaders of Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Portugal and Ireland said they would oppose the creation of a permanent president of the European Council to replace the six-month, rotating EU Presidency.
The small countries fear a permanent EU President, as proposed by Germany, France, Britain and Spain, could undermine the authority of the Commission.
They argue the rotating presidency helps to bring the EU closer to its citizens and reflects the principle of equality between member-states, regardless of their size.
Luxembourg's Prime Minister Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, made clear after Tuesday's meeting that the small countries, dubbed by the European media "the seven dwarfs", view the creation of a permanent presidency as an attempt by bigger states to reduce the influence of the Commission.
"We think the proposed EU President carries an eminent risk of duplicating the work of the European Commission," he said.
Smaller countries have long regarded the Commission as the guarantor of equality between member-states, while big countries believe the weighted voting system in the inter-governmental Council of Ministers better reflects the demographic reality within the EU.
Last week, 16 countries, including Ireland and most of the candidate countries, submitted a paper to the convention opposing the creation of an EU President and backing the election of the Commission President by the European Parliament or by an electoral college including MEPs and members of national parliaments.
The Taoiseach said the 16 countries, known as Friends of the Community Method, were moving close to the three Benelux countries in their approach to the most important issues at the convention.
"We need to work together. We are close to agreement on the institutional issues," Mr Ahern said.
EU leaders and leaders of the candidate countries will discuss the work of the convention with its president, Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing, in Athens on April 16th. Mr Verhofstadt said Tuesday's meeting was a discussion of tactics and strategy ahead of that meeting.