The Laeken European Council today will launch a debate on the future of the European Union, which will culminate in an Intergovernmental Conference to be held during Ireland's next EU Presidency in 2004. Ireland has every reason to welcome this debate and to participate actively in it.
The European Council will also be considering many other issues, such as the introduction of the euro and progress in combating terrorism and organised crime - issues which directly affect the prosperity and the security of everyone in this country.
The Government will be working to ensure that EU actions and decisions reflect Ireland's values and concerns, and protect our interests. Some people believe that, as a small country, we simply have to put up with what others decide. But the record shows otherwise. We have been remarkably successful in helping to shape the agenda to our advantage.
Of course in the EU we often have to make compromises. But so does everyone else. Naturally, larger countries have a particular weight of their own. It would be naive to pretend otherwise. But the reality is that inside the EU we have far more influence over many decisions which affect us than we would outside.
As an Irish nationalist, I see the nation state as the key political unit, now and into the future. But the world is now more interdependent and more interlinked than ever before. There are many things which it remains possible and right to do by ourselves: but there are many other things on which it makes sense to work together in Europe.
All along, Irish opponents of the European Union - just like British Eurosceptics - have lamented the alleged loss of national sovereignty, as if it were a perpetually threatened treasure which must be hoarded. I value our sovereignty: but its real value is in its capacity to serve the true interests and well-being of our people. That capacity is enhanced, not reduced, by sharing sovereignty within the Union on issues which individual states by themselves simply cannot control - like trade, fighting organised crime, protecting the environment.
In pooling sovereignty, we are not handing ourselves over to some sort of bureaucratic monster handing down diktats from afar. The EU is not them, but us: we the citizens of Europe, we the member states, whose Ministers together make decisions in the Council, whose MEPs sit together in the European Parliament, and whose nationals staff the Commission.
The European Union is a success story. This is why so many other countries have joined in the past decade and will join in the next few years. For Ireland to be seen to block or delay this historic development, through failing to ratify the Nice Treaty, would be profoundly damaging to our interests.
Nevertheless, though the Union has achieved so much, there is a public sense of disconnection from it. This was made manifest by last June's referendum.
The people of Ireland, like people elsewhere in Europe, see the benefits of the Union, but often do not understand it or seem to care about it. The basic objective of our National Forum on Europe is to explore this question. Some of the answers may lie at home. For instance, the Government will be bringing forward its own proposals on how to improve Oireachtas scrutiny of European business.
Throughout Europe, however, people want to see a Union which is not just more efficient and effective, but more open and understandable. The Treaty of Nice, being focused on what is necessary for enlargement, does not and was never intended to address those wider issues. That is why there is to be a fresh debate on them.
Ireland's starting point must be that the existing institutions and policies have served us and Europe well. We will not want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. But we are pragmatic.
We know that there are existing problems to solve and new challenges to confront. It makes no sense to run away from change and challenge.
We should have the self-confidence to play our full role, at the core of the Union, in its future development.
Brian Cowen is Minister for Foreign Affairs