WITH the Amsterdam EU summit looming, the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, is keen to explore today with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, a number of crucial treaty reform issues on which the British and Irish are agreed.
The Irish will be particularly concerned to impress on Mr Blair their worries about the emerging shape of a compromise package on the two countries' opt outs on passport free travel.
The discussion between the prime ministers will be attended by the two foreign ministers, who will earlier have had talks exclusively devoted to the InterGovernmental Conference (IGC).
The Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, and his counterpart, the Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, will be resuming at official level a dialogue they have already engaged in regularly as fellow members of the Party of European Socialists.
Although both countries diverge on their willingness to see a substantial extension of qualified majority voting, with Ireland now firmly in the camp of the integrationists, there is substantial convergence on a number of other crucial issues.
Dublin is convinced that London is firmly on board in resisting the merger of the EU with the WEU and is keen to see Britain, as a NATO member, make that case. Although unapologetic about neutrality, Irish diplomats do not want to lead this charge. They are more willing to do so on the related issues of flexibility and the Schengen accord, where they also see common ground.
Attempts by the 13 other member states to bring the Schengen accord into the EU treaty are complicated by the common travel area between Britain and Ireland and the British refusal to consider the abolition of passport checks.
Although the 13 have made it clear that they are willing to accept opt outs for the two, Irish officials are concerned that the Dutch presidency proposals will create a decision making wall between the 13 and the two. They argue that such flexibility provisions must be framed in an inclusive way so that, even if the two countries wish to opt out of certain provisions, they reflect the common ownership of the treaty and the institutions by all 15.
