The first tiger economy of the EU, Ireland has been looked upon by new EU members as an example of how Europe can be made to work for smaller states. From its tax system, to the development of an advanced e-culture, Ireland has been at the forefront. DT – Diplomacy and Trade spoke with career diplomat, Irish Ambassador to Hungary, Brendan McMahon.

The central events marking EU accession were held in Dublin. Would you say Ireland is completely satisfied with the enlarged EU?

Brendan McMahon We see this like more customers, more business. With the enlarged union, Europe benefits from a market of over 450 million, and we are great believers of free trade. Trade is our life’s blood, and enlargement means a bigger market. In this context, we are very happy.

A few years ago Ireland voted “No” on the Treaty of Nice referendum, which dealt with enlargement. Are there reverberations to this day resulting from this original failure?

Brendan McMahon The first referendum failed basically because the politicians never campaigned in the first place because they were saving their money for the general election. They didn’t want to spend any money for that, because they were under the impression that the referendum was definitely going to pass, and they were surprised when it did not. The reason that it passed the second time is that all the political parties campaigned for a yes vote. I should point out that it was not about being against the accession of new states, because Irish people were positive about the goal of the union and having more members. Enlargement is popular in Ireland.

We have done well in the EU, how could we deny these benefits to the Czech, Slovak, Polish or Hungarian people? The voters did not want to seem to be ungenerous, we appealed to our better nature, and that is why we said “Yes” to the second vote.

How is Ireland working to find a resolution to the EU Constitution impasse? What were the main issues Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy and Irish leader Bertie Ahern discussed during their recent meeting in Budapest?

Brendan McMahon The visit by the Taoiseach (head of the Irish government) was in the context of a tour of EU capitals before the next summit in June. The entire agenda of the summit was for discussion, but I can say that the two main items were possible candidates for EU Commission president and the future constitution for the EU.

The question of possible nominees for the position of EU Commission president is a delicate, sensitive and confidential matter and was discussed face-to-face by the two prime ministers, with no officials present. The Taoiseach was anxious to have Prime Minister Medgyessy's perspective on the matter.

On the future constitution, the Taoiseach divided the issues into groups - issues agreed under the [EU] Italian Presidency, some largely technical issues still outstanding, but which should be agreed before June. The big institutional questions - composition of the commission, voting, number of seats in parliament; and finally the overall balance on issues to be subject to majority voting and issues to be subject to qualified majority voting. The objective is to resolve as many of the differences as possible before the June summit so that the heads of government can have a focused discussion with as few major outstanding issues remaining as possible.

Ireland is a kind of ideal for Hungary, because the country has made tremendous developments in the economic sector. How was this achieved? Do you think that Hungary has the same opportunity given May’s enlargement?

Brendan McMahon I would say that Hungary should be very optimistic. There is a tendency to pessimism in Hungary, but I would be very optimistic with Hungary’s potential in the union. You are in the middle of the Europe, it is easy to get to markets. We are right there on the sea, and a long way out of the center of Europe, unlike Hungary which is right in the heart of Europe. I think that this fact alone gives Hungary a great potential. With a well-educated population, the potential to get into the knowledge based industries is huge. So Hungary should be more optimistic about it.

Bertie Ahern completes pre-summit tour of EU capitals European Council President Bertie Ahern completed a tour of EU capitals ahead of the European Summit June 17&18. Since the beginning of May, Ahern visited the capitals of 24 EU member states and held discussions with his colleagues on the outstanding issues in relation to a final agreement on the European Constitution. Ahern's discussions have also involved trying to make progress on the question of who will become president of the EU Commission for the next five years. Ahern met in Luxembourg with Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker, in Berlin with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and held discussions with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Copenhagen, in addition to a discussion in Budapest with Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy. Following their discussions in Berlin, both Ahern and Schroeder reiterated their hope that member states will find a compromise on the EU Constitution. "There are difficult areas where we have to reach compromises ... but with the determination of everybody, we can successfully complete this work," said Ahern. "There are still matters to resolve. We cannot take it for granted. Some people still have some problems and difficulties, we have to accommodate those, but they have to be realistic, they cannot expect us all to bend ourselves."