Brussels, 25/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, took part in a meeting to prepare for the Spring Summit in Brussels on Thursday morning, together with the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. This type of inter-institutional meeting has recently become the norm: Ed). Then, he will join those taking part in the Liberal leaders' Summit (see pages 3 and 4).
On Thursday evening, Pat Cox took part in the discussion by the Heads of State and Government of the enlarged EU on the European response to terrorism, then in their dinner on the prospects for a relaunch of the IGC on the European Constitution (on Friday morning, he will hold his traditional meeting with those taking part in the those taking part in the European Council, at the start of their work.
Before the debate on the IGC, Pat Cox said in a press release: "the time for a constitutional Treaty settlement has come, and that time is now. My own sense is that there is a change in mood and a willingness to compromise on the issues which blocked the last Brussels Summit. Nobody wants another Brussels "lost weekend" like December. A second failure would further undermine public confidence in the European project (...) I believe that the elements of a compromise (...) are now at hand. I urge the Irish Government to take the necessary steps to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion within the Irish Presidency".
According to the Irish President of the European Parliament, a break-through now would prove convincingly that the Union of 25 has "the willingness to work together and make progress (...) And if there is willingness to go forward, we must do so quickly". Pat Cox adds that: "my appeal to the leaders of the EU is simple: go as quickly as possible. In the European Parliament, we feel that the objective should be an agreement before the European elections (...) The difficulties we have seen over recent months (...) on the Constitution will not get any easier with time".
President Cox appealed for a common front against terrorism, whilst taking part in the funeral in Madrid on Wednesday of victims of the attack on 11 March.