THE DEBATE of the heads of government on the treaty changing Inter Governmental Conference was opened with a report from the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs on the progress made by the IGC so far.
Mr Spring committed the Irish presidency to meeting its mandate of producing a general outline for a draft treaty by the Dublin summit in December, as agreed in Florence in June.
Mr Spring said that the negotiations had moved from an initial exploratory phase to one of substantial negotiation, turning agreed general principles into possible treaty text.
The work is being conducted at present mainly by the group of personal representatives of the foreign ministers, but in their discussions last week in Luxembourg the latter had also begun a detailed discussion of texts, specifically proposals in the fields of employment and justice and home affairs.
These were key areas of work, he said, if the IGC was to succeed in bringing the Union closer to its citizens.
The ministers were agreed on the need to enhance co operation in justice and home affairs, he said, and believed this required "applying community instruments and procedures" to many of the areas - in effect giving the Commission a new role in initiating policy and actions.
Later in the month, Mr Spring said, ministers would also be considering proposals to strengthen the system of common foreign and security policy. The emphasis would be boa improving the Union's external representation and its capacity for planning and analysis. The question arose of the relationship of such new structures to the presidency and the Commission.
There was "broad agreement", he said, on the incorporation of the so called Petersberg tasks of humanitarian and peacekeeping work in the treaty. "More work needs to be done on the further development of a common defence policy and the articulation of the EU's future and evolving relationship with the WEU."
Mr Spring said the Union would have to ensure that it could speak with one voice in such forums as the World Trade Organisation.
The group had looked at increasing the legislative role of the European Parliament and identifying a coherent approach to the widening of qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers. But the fixed position of many delegations had not made the latter possible yet, he said.
They had also touched on the issues of the weighting of votes in the council and the number of commissioners, but he believed these questions could not be resolved until later.
Mr Spring said the group had touched on the issue of a treaty provision for flexible integration at different speeds - "potentially the most important issue for the conference" - but this too would have to await other decisions before it could be dealt with finally.
