French PM to visit Dublin on European Constitution

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will pay an official visit to Ireland, the current rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) till the end of June, to discuss the European Constitution.

"It is very important to meet the EU's presidency one month before the European Council" on June 17 and 18 in Brussels, said the Prime Minister's office on Saturday.

Since the entry of the ten new members to the European Union on May 1, the 25 members fixed the objective to conclude the difficult negotiations on the future Constitution at the summit in Brussels.

Seven members of the EU (Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Czech and Slovak) have sent a letter to the Irish presidency last Friday to bring into the Constitution a Christian reference, a subtle subject which has divided the Europe in 2003.

On bilateral ties, France has regarded the political relations as good and finds a "convergence of view" between the two countries on "lots of community and international subjects."

Raffarin will meet Irish President Mary McAleese and then his counterpart Bertie Ahern, with whom he will hold a news conference.

France is the sixth largest exporter for Ireland, accounting for 4.9 percent of market share, and its fourth largest investor after the United States, Britain and Germany.

Raffarin will be accompanied by his European affairs minister Claudie Haignere and Foreign Trade Minister Francois Loos.

Source: Xinhua