EU: The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will attend a special meeting of leaders of small EU member-states in advance of next week's summit in Brussels.
The meeting, which will be hosted in Brussels on Wednesday evening by the Belgian prime minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, is aimed at establishing a joint approach to key issues at the Convention on the future of Europe.
Most of the countries to be represented at the meeting are members of the Friends of the Community Method, a group of small EU member-states which are concerned about a shift of power from the Commission and a threat to abolish the EU's rotating presidency.
The meeting will be attended by leaders from Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Portugal and Ireland.
The Minister of State for European Affairs, Mr Dick Roche, who represents the Government at the Convention, has helped to draft a set of principles the small countries believe should be central to any reform of EU institutions.
They include a commitment to retain the Commission's sole right to initiate EU legislation and to maintain the principle of equality among member-states in appointing the Commission.
The small countries are united in their opposition to a proposal, backed by France, Germany, Britain and Spain, to appoint a President of the European Council for a term of two to five years.
The bigger member-states argue that the six-month rotating presidency is inefficient and that it will become unsustainable when the EU enlarges next year to 25 countries.
Smaller countries say the problems of the rotating presidency are mainly administrative and can be resolved technically. They argue that the rotating presidency has important political advantages and enshrines the principle of equality between member-states.