The Taoiseach has said "concrete steps" must be taken to ensure that Europe is on course to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010.
He was speaking following a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Mr Mikulas Dzurinda, in Dublin this morning. Disussions between the two premiers focused on the upcoming spring European Council session and the Intergovernmental Conference.
"On the spring European Council, I explained to Prime Minister Dzurinda that our approach to this important summit is to have a focused strategic discussion on how best to stimulate the European economy," Mr Ahern said.
"We agree on the need to redouble our efforts to promote growth, to create more and better jobs and to become more competitive which are key priorities of our presidency. We must take concrete steps to ensure that we remain on course to achieve the goal of making Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world by 2010."
Mr Ahern said the discussions on the IGC today had been "very useful". "The prime minister outlined Slovak concerns and I was very interested to hear his assessment of how progress might be achieved. We both hope that the IGC can be concluded as soon as possible.
"At this point I am looking at all proposals. We have a number of solutions to the outstanding issues. I understand the benefits of a double majority system. The reason that I'm prepared to move to a double majority, as are the vast majority, is because we see the difficulty that will be created if we don't find a compromise.
"he point I put to everybody is that people can tell me what they don't like, but for us to make progress on this issue people must also tell me what they do like. And I'm increasingly looking forward to people telling me what they do like.
"The question is, how we in the EU can take prompt and efficient decisions in the future. That is really what it is all about."
Mr Ahern said the Presidency will continue to consult with partners in the run-up to the spring European Council, when he will present a report on the prospects for progress in the IGC.
Commenting in Dublin today, Mr Dzurinda urged other EU countries to follow Ireland's example and allow equal access to jobs to all EU citizens.
He chastised other European Union states for back-tracking on pledges to open their labour markets to the 10 countries due to join the bloc in May
"We are afraid that some countries, members of the European Union, have changed their previous view," Dzurinda said after the talks with the Taoiseach.
"I highly appreciate that Ireland didn't. Ireland is staying in its previous position of keeping its market open. I think that this approach should be followed by some other countries."
Access to job markets has become an increasingly contentious issue in the run-up to May 1st, when the 10 accession states - eight of them from the former Soviet bloc - join the EU.
In the past few months, Sweden and The Netherlands have withdrawn promises to open their labour markets to the 75 million citizens from the accession countries of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
That leaves Ireland and Britain alone in sticking to their pledge to open their labour markets, although both have imposed a two-year ban on free access to welfare and Britain insists that workers register with the government.
The unemployment rate in Slovakia, with a population of 5.4 million, is more than 16 per cent - almost twice the EU average.
Additional reporting Reuters