Phoenix Park Welcomes Europe
On 1 January Ireland assumed the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months. It was the State’s sixth such presidency, and Ahern also chaired meetings of the European Council during the term. The role placed a relatively small member state at the centre of a Union preparing both for its largest enlargement and for a contentious attempt at institutional reform. Irish ministers and civil servants had to act as brokers among governments whose interests and political traditions were often sharply different.