Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 16, inclusive, together.

To date I have visited 17 of the 24 member states as part of my ongoing tour of capitals in advance of the European Council later this month. On the first leg, from 5 to 7 May, I visited Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. On the second leg, from 12 to 14 May, I visited Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Italy, Portugal and Spain. I reported to the House on the first two legs on 18 May last.

On 19 and 20 May I visited Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia as part of the third leg of this programme of visits. I had a useful series of discussions with my counterparts which provided the opportunity to outline in detail the Presidency's plans for the forthcoming European Council and the Intergovernmental Conference. This week, I will complete my tour of capitals with visits to France, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Denmark. I am also keeping my colleagues in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey fully informed of developments in the run-up to the European Council. I spoke with Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, Prime Minister Nastase of Romania and Prime Minister Saxe-Coburg of Bulgaria by telephone last week.

On the Intergovernmental Conference, we are sparing no effort to make progress on the outstanding issues ahead of the European Council. We are continuing to make good progress towards an agreement with which everyone can live. I believe we are still on track for agreement at the European Council on 17 and 18 June.

I will have a number of key meetings with colleagues later this week. So far, everyone with whom I have met has been constructive, positive and fully committed to early resolution of the outstanding issues. We are beginning to centre in on an agreed outcome on institutional issues. Naturally, people regard these questions — voting, the Commission and the Parliament — as inter-linked and I do not expect them to reach final judgments until there is a full package on the table. However, I believe that we are in good shape and know where we are going.

On the more technical issues, excellent work was done at the meetings of officials and foreign Ministers over the past month. While some small adjustments remain to be made, most of these do not need further discussion. On the overall balance between qualified majority voting and unanimity in the new constitution, this has obviously been a key issue in my discussions with colleagues. The areas involved are sensitive and complex. We need to find a balance acceptable to all. I will continue to explore how this might be achieved in my further meetings, including those taking place this week. I will then reflect before making a proposal.

On Friday, 21 May, accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, I attended the EU-Russia summit in Moscow. In the immediate aftermath of EU enlargement, this was a very welcome and timely opportunity to reaffirm the Union's strategic partnership with its largest European neighbour. We agreed on a number of measures aimed at taking forward work on developing the four common spaces for EU-Russia co-operation. These spaces were established at last year's St. Petersburg summit and have the capacity to transform the EU-Russia relationship.

A key outcome of the summit was the agreement reached between Russia and the EU on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation. This agreement is a significant and critically important step forward for open markets and trade liberalisation here in Europe. It also marks a major step towards the full accession of Russia to the WTO. We also discussed current international issues, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

I met Prime Minister Raffarin of France on Monday, 24 May, during his official visit to Ireland. Our meeting provided a valuable opportunity to discuss the issue of bilateral relations. We agreed there was considerable scope for further enhancing co-operation between France and Ireland, particularly in the fields of training, research, biotechnology and knowledge based issues which are central to the European Union's Lisbon strategy. We also had a useful exchange of views on the Intergovernmental Conference. I thanked the Prime Minister for his support for our efforts aimed at concluding negotiations on the draft constitutional treaty at the European Council later this month. We also had time to touch on a range of other issues, including the EU-Russia summit and the Middle East.

I travelled to Guadalajara in Mexico last week for the EU-Latin American-Caribbean summit, which I co-chaired with President Fox of Mexico. The main themes of the summit were social cohesion and effective multilateralism. A total of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries were represented alongside the 25 EU member states. The main summit was followed by meetings between the EU and the Central American Association, the Andean Community, Cariforum, Chile and Mexico. It was a most productive meeting.

During my visit, I had a bilateral meeting with President Uribe of Colombia. In addition to EU and bilateral issues, we discussed the continued security and welfare of the three Irish prisoners held by the Colombian authorities. I expressed the hope that the appeal process could be expedited and that the case could be concluded as quickly as possible.

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