He will not allow the EU presidency to take him away from the domestic agenda, the Taoiseach tells Mark Brennock
As he prepares to assume the six-month presidency of the European Council on January 1st, the Taoiseach has acknowledged that there is now a perception among many EU partners that Ireland is among the less enthusiastic participants in the European project, rather than at the heart of it as in the past.
Having received large payments and benefits from the EU while suffering from high unemployment, emigration and low investment, other states now "see our budget position and they say: have you forgotten? There is a bit of that, and I think it is a fair enough question," Mr Ahern said.This was not a big problem, he maintained, but it existed.
In response he emphasised that the EU and the European social model had been the cornerstone of Ireland's economic success. His remarks were in sharp contrast to some from other ministers such as Ms Mary Harney and Mr Charlie McCreevy. They have pointed to Ireland's preference for aspects of US neo-liberal economics and rejection of traditional European economic thinking as the cornerstone of economic success.
Asked about this view he said: "I don't agree with that. My one answer to that is [in relation to] the foreign direct investment that came in here. Did it come to Ireland because we didn't take the European model, or did it come here because we were part of Europe?
"I think anyone being honest has to ask that question, and I know what the answer to that question in my view is. And my view is based on the statistics \ the people who came here to invest in this country, who put in big capital and big assets because they wanted to be part of the European community.
"Of course, it was helped by the fact that we have so many Irish-Americans, and we have a good work ethic, and we tend to be a bit more flexible. But we do that because we are a small country and are flexible people. If the European model didn't exist would all of that investment be in here in pharmaceuticals and chemicals? No, it wouldn't.
"We have done very well out of Europe. Would we have done this without Europe? No, we wouldn't. Where are our export markets? Why do we pull foreign direct investment? Why do our indigenous industries do better? Why are our agricultural transfers so good? All these interactions are because of Europe, and there is every reason on any analysis of it why we should continue to be strong, good Europeans. We are doing very well out of it."
He and others in politics and in business had an obligation to tell Irish people how important the EU had been for us.
"I don't think we should be complacent about it. In the Nice referendum you got people who were doing very well in the international business world taking a bit of a laissez-faire view about the European model and the European concept. We have used the European model here to great effect," the Taoiseach said.
"When the next EU Commission president is appointed next year, we must ensure that person is a very strong individual," he said.
As a small member-state Ireland saw the Commission as protecting the smaller members from the tendency of the larger governments to do deals between themselves, outside EU structures. It had substantial political clout and provided a counterbalance to the bigger member-states. "If the Commission is not to just turn into an administration you need somebody very strong", he said.
There was a generally held view that the Commission president had to be a former prime minister, although he noted that Mr Jacques Delors, one of the most successful Commission presidents, had not served in that capacity.
"I don't think it has to be a former prime minister, but you can't walk in there and just get respect," Mr Ahern said.
He said this week that he had not given thought to who would be Ireland's next commissioner, or whether the incumbent, Mr David Byrne, would be reappointed.
He would be very strongly opposed to the idea of a "two-speed Europe", an idea hinted at again by the French and Germans after the failure of the weekend summit.
"Jacques Chirac will always be saying that if people don't want to move forward, 'I'll put it together and join when you're ready'."
The Commission was a bulwark against such inter-governmental moves for a small number of states to forge ahead.
After the breakdown of the Brussels summit in disagreement over an EU constitution, Mr Ahern is to prepare a report on the prospects for agreement to present to a summit meeting in March. If at that stage there is a prospect of agreement, he will push for it.
However, he is doubtful over whether this is possible. "There are things we can bring to it and work that we can do. Whether we can actually finish it is probably at this stage unlikely."
Seeking a deal last weekend was probably too ambitious, he conceded. "Agreement was clearly just not possible on Saturday, and ultimately a deal can only be done when everyone concerned is prepared to put enough compromise into it."
However, he did imply he might have conducted last weekend's negotiations differently, given the chance.
He would now work at "trying to tease out a bit more what people's bottom lines are". This appears to be a reference to the frustration felt in some member-states about the fact that neither the Spanish nor the Poles, two of the key states at last weekend's summit, were asked what their "bottom lines" were in the negotiations.
He is also concerned that some issues which are important to Ireland, such as outright opposition to proposals to abolish the national veto on some tax-related issues, could be reopened for discussion in the coming months. This issue appeared to have been resolved to Ireland's satisfaction before the prospects of a deal ended, but could now unravel.
"I really think a number of things will be reopened," he said, although he did not think the defence issue, also resolved to Ireland's satisfaction, would be reopened.
Agreement had not been necessary at the weekend, and there would be "a good few more Christmases" before an agreement was vital, as the changes would not take effect until 2009.
The Government has laid considerable emphasis on using its presidency to further the drive to improve the European Union's economic competitiveness - the "Lisbon Agenda" in EU jargon, named after the summit at which the process was set up.
Mr Ahern said this covered everything from the control of inflation to the penetration of technology such as broadband Internet access in society. The Lisbon Agenda measures progress in these areas.
"And at the moment we're not doing too well. We need to realise that, while the European social model is very good, very healthy and very strong, and social security is better than in the United States in terms of protecting workers' rights and people's interests, yet there are things on the business side we need to do.
"Making sure we are productive, efficient and getting quality goods into markets on time, building on communication technologies, being far better on research and development, making research and education work for you in terms of developing new products," the Taoiseach said.
The Government had worked for the past year to ensure that the Union would concentrate on improving performance in a number of these areas. He hoped that a number of specific EU projects relating to communications technology development would be started during the Irish presidency.
Recent Israeli criticisms of Ireland suggesting that the Government was less supportive of that state than others in the EU was "not a problem for us".
"The fact is that we have been effective in the line we are taking in trying to press on the 'road map' and be very assertive with the Americans in our support for the 'road map', and working to try to get them interested."
He said that at the Hillsborough summit a year ago both he andMr Tony Blair had been urging the US to become involved in the process, and they were doing that as EU member-states.
"We told them part of the reason America was not understood in Europe was that we were not making progress on the 'road map'."
This plan had been prepared by the EU with the US, Russia and the United Nations. It calls for a freeze on Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, the reopening of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and an agreement for a Palestinian state by 2005.
Mr Ahern acknowledged the recent criticism of Ireland by Israeli figures but said the Government would not be deflected from its "even-handed" approach. "We wish to see the two states living together within secure, internationally recognised borders," he said.
"This is the vision we believe was set out in President Bush's speech in late June. That was enthusiastically accepted by the parties including Israel. It's a view Prime Minister Sharon also said that he holds. The means of achieving this goal is set out in the 'road map'."
Relations between Ireland and Israel were well established and friendly, he said. Anyway, the role of the presidency was to present the views on the Union rather than the member-states, and Ireland would do that.
"But we have been assertive, there is no doubt about that. Everyone understands our position," he said.
He had been the first foreign leader to land at the airport in Gaza, which "created a lot of ruffles at the time". But the Government had been consistent and had not been pressed off its line.
Ireland could also play an important role in improving frosty EU-US relations in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion. "We are respected in the American administration," he said. "We worked very closely with them on the UN resolutions concerning Afghanistan" as members of the UN Security Council.
The US also "respected" Ireland's decision to facilitate their military forces with overflight and landing facilities during the invasion of Iraq, and the fact that Ireland played a role in UN missions as in Liberia.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, had produced a paper on how to "build, develop and bring back normality into the EU-US relationship. We think we can do that."
There was a range of issues on which the EU and the US should usefully co-operate, such as international terrorism, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the Middle East peace process, Iraq, Afghanistan, promoting development and tackling HIV and Aids.
He will meet President Bush in Washington in March during the traditional St Patrick's Day visit, at the G8 meeting in Savannah, Georgia, in early June, and at the EU-NATO summit in Istanbul at the end of June. There may yet be a specific EU-US summit, but this has not been confirmed.
He said he would consider the presidency had been successful if it managed to agree specific plans for economic improvement at the March summit; ensuring that remaining problems of enlargement were resolved before the new states joined on May 1st; that a series of specific issues in a range of different councils of European ministers, which will be chaired by various Irish ministers, were dealt with; that negotiations with Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey with a view to their joining the EU made progress; and that summit meetings with the US, Russia, Canada and Latin American states went well.
He said the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, had told him last weekend that the presidency had taken him totally away from the domestic agenda. He would not allow this to happen to him.
"But my priority will have to be the presidency, and my equal one will have to be Northern Ireland. It's going to be tough," the Taoiseach said.