Tullamore, 16/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - "It is likely that the ministerial level Intergovernmental Conference will take place on 17 May" an Irish Presidency source said on Friday. The convocation to the meeting is set to be confirmed at the General Council Affairs meeting on 26 April, she added. The Presidency hopes that after the ongoing contacts between the Taoiseach and the capitals, the ministers will be in a position on 26 April to confirm the timetable of work up until the European Council. There is still a general wish to reach an agreement at the Summit at the latest on 17 and 18 May said the Presidency. Before formally confirming the convocation of the IGC, the Presidency is however waiting for the new Spanish government to be sworn in said Brian Cowen, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister, on leaving the informal Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting in Tullamore (see also EUROPE of 14 April, p.4).
Spain and Poland confirm openness to compromise
In his investiture speech, incoming Socialist Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero stressed that he would do everything in his power to have the Constitution approved before the end of the Irish Presidency and signed in Madrid "to render homage to the victims of the 11 March attacks" (Ed: as requested by the European Parliament). Mr Zapatero said he was "convinced that what is good for Europe is good for Spain" and that the European Constitution will be "the most solid element of the Union" between the 25.
Furthermore, following a meeting on Thursday in London with his counterpart Jack Straw, Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz stated that Poland was "open to compromise, particularly in the areas where we have differed with our partners" and that Poland hopes that talks can begin "as soon as possible". At the same time Poland underlined that any compromise must be "reasonable and fair".