The question of the formation of a ministerial executive is likely to dominate the proceedings of the Northern Ireland Assembly when it meets again at Stormont on January 18th.
The First Minister-designate, Mr David Trimble, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, will report on the agreement over departmental structures and North-South bodies concluded in the early hours of December 18th.
Unionists and nationalists differ as to the proper course of action once the Trimble-Mallon report has been delivered.
The Ulster Unionists are said to be anxious to avoid a formal vote on adopting the report because of legal advice that this would remove the barriers to Sinn Fein participation in an executive in which the party would be entitled to two ministerial posts.
The UUP is thought likely to recommend that the Assembly "take note" of the Trimble-Mallon report, not only to avoid triggering the mechanism for Sinn Fein's accession to government but also for fear of highlighting differences within the UUP Assembly team.
The possibility of defections is an ever-present nightmare for the UUP leadership.
Nationalists are likely to take the view that the report from the First and Deputy First Ministers will have to include proposals for adoption by the parties.
The UUP holds to its position that Sinn Fein cannot be permitted to take ministerial seats until there has been a gesture on decommissioning from the IRA.
But republican sources are insisting more strongly than ever that such a gesture will not be made in the short or medium term, if at all, and certainly not as the price of admission to government.
Further moves to reduce the level of security in the North, while remaining on guard against the activities of republican and loyalist dissidents, are likely to be unveiled in the near future.
There is an anxiety in official circles that "anything that looks militaristic", such as elaborate security fences around police stations, should be removed in areas where it is considered safe to do so.
This will increase the political clamour for decommissioning. But sources close to republican thinking were adamant that the IRA would remain impervious to this demand, which was not seen as a requirement under the Belfast Agreement.
The Assembly is expected to sit over two days, with members debating the content of the report while officials and party managers try to resolve the procedural issues behind the scenes.
"At this stage it's only a Trimble-Mallon deal," political insiders said last night, adding that the Assembly would now have to agree to the arrangements worked out by the two men and their negotiating teams.