The Maastricht Treaty on European Union, ratified by the Irish people in a referendum, provides that the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the Union "shall include all questions relating to the security of the Union, including the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence." The Maastricht Treaty also provided for the convening of a further intergovernmental conference in 1996 to review, inter alia, this Treaty provision. The current Intergovernmental Conference negotiation are progressing well, although there remain a number of issues to be resolved before the Amsterdam summit in June.
Ireland's strong commitment to the development of the CFSP is reflected in our approach to the IGS negotiations. In the negotiations it has been fully recongnised that EU member states which are not members of military alliances have a constructive role to play in the development of the Union in the security and defence area. I would mention in particular the Petersberg tasks, in which countries such as Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Austria, with their long tradition in UN peacekeeping, could play an important role that is consistent with their non-membership of alliances.