ITALY's room for political initiative during its EU Presidency has been significantly affected by the political instability there in recent months, a senior Italian official told the conference.
Mr Gianni Bonvicini, an adviser to the new Italian Prime Minister and director of Italy's Institute of International Affairs, said that despite the fact that Italy faced a political crisis and an election during its Presidency, "Italy clearly is transferring to Ireland an important political agenda for Europe".
Despite Italy's political difficulties, he maintained that it had managed the EU agenda smoothly. At the end of its Presidency Italy would produce "a summing up report and a kind of draft Treaty" to be used by the incoming Irish Presidency.
The Summit in Florence next month would open the way for the Irish to take practical measures to deal with unemployment, he went on. He also saw the fight against drug trafficking as a priority.
On Bosnia, Ireland must "prepare for a possible American military withdrawal at the end of the year". It would be necessary also to speed up the reconstruction programme there and to build up the infrastructure in former Yugoslavia. The Union would also have to increase its consultation with the US on the Middle East Peace Process.