EU commissioners' role in doubt

A commissioner for every state will no longer be possible once Romania and Bulgaria join the EU next month, according to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

He said member states would probably "wake up to it" in February and this would bring "some sense" to the debate on enlargement and the constitution.

Answering questions in the Dáil about the informal EU summit in Lahti, Finland, and his address to the European Parliament, Mr Ahern said he reminded everyone that "once we have 27 members in a month's time, under the Nice Treaty - which they have all conveniently forgotten about but not for much longer - there will no longer be one commissioner per state".

He said "they almost reckon it doesn't matter, but they will realise it's a written treaty. Once Bulgaria and Romania join, there will be a difficulty. That will bring some sense to the debate."

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked: "Are we putting off the decision day when Turkey as a secular state refuses to recognise Cyprus? This is a clear problem. A conclusion on Turkey's entry will not be reached until the problem is solved," he said.

Mr Ahern believed it would be difficult to proceed on the issue and president Tassos Papadopoulos of Cyprus "will not take a soft option". Mr Ahern said Mr Papadopoulos's position "as he sees it and as we supported during the Irish presidency is that if Europe does not stand by one of its own members, which is the issue, he will take a tough line".

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte asked if there would be a referendum next year on the EU constitution. He said it was inevitable there would be changes since France and the Netherlands had rejected it and he noted Mr Ahern's warnings against cherrypicking from the constitution.

Mr Ahern said that these states could have protocols attached as addendums to the constitution to cover areas they had difficulties with.