EU summit agenda likely to be overshadowed by latest crisis in Balkans

EU leaders gathered in Cardiff last night for a summit whose distinctly thin agenda appears likely to be overshadowed by the Kosovo crisis.

Determined to keep up the pressure on President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia ahead of his talks today in Moscow, the German Defence Minister, Mr Volker Ruhe, has caused some embarrassment by insisting that NATO might not require a UN mandate to use force.

A British presidency spokesman last night tried to maintain a united front by dodging a question on the issue, but it is unlikely that it will be possible to avoid it today.

The British still hope that the summit will provide a harmonious demonstration of their new engagement in Europe - "compare and contrast" was how Mr Blair's spokesman put it last night. That should be possible on most of the agenda, although the Germans are determined to make electoral mileage out of their demand for a budget rebate.

Other member-states, Ireland included, will urge that the issue be pushed back to the autumn.

Although the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will not be able to have a formal bilateral meeting with Mr Blair because of the latter's presidency commitments, the two will certainly have a short exchange of views on the state of the peace process, notably the marching season and the elections.

The meeting is also set to give a ringing endorsement of the Belfast Agreement and to welcome its "decisive" popular endorsement in a declaration that will call on the Commission to urgently find new ways to support the agreement in practical ways. Diplomats say the Commission is looking at various approaches but has yet to agree where more cash could come from.

Mr Ahern's main personal engagement is a bilateral meeting tomorrow afternoon with President Nelson Mandela of South Africa to thank him for supporting the peace process and the New Agenda anti-nuclear initiative.

The Taoiseach is likely to urge fellow leaders to hasten slowly in their talk of another rapid Inter-Governmental Conference to complete Amsterdam's unfinished business. Sources suggest he will not be raising the duty-free issue at the suggestion of the duty-free lobby, who believe more progress can be made in Vienna in December.

Last night the leader of Fine Gael, Mr John Bruton, here for a pre-summit meeting of European People's Party (EPP) leaders, gave a warm welcome to proposals from the former President of the Commission, Mr Jacques Delors, to give a form of democratic mandate to the nomination process for the next presidency.

The absence of a popular mandate at a time when the EU must continue to adhere to the disciplines associated with the euro could undermine the whole project, he warned.

Earlier, some 8,000 irate farmers rallied in the city to protest against delays in getting British beef back on world markets.