Do not expect any agreements,'' said John Bruton, prime minister, after holding pre-summit talks on Wednesday with Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany.
The Maastricht 2 conference was orginally billed as a historic opportunity to shape Europe's future in the 21st century, but the reality so far has been more prosaic. The special representatives of the 15 EU member states have spent the first six months circling each other warily; serious negotiations have barely begun.
Noel Dorr, the methodical Irish diplomat who is chairing the IGC talks, likens his task to painting an intricate picture. By mid-December a rough outline should emerge, in the shape of a draft treaty text at the Dublin 2 summit. Then it will be up to the Dutch - the old masters'', quipped one Irish diplomat