The British and Irish governments will outline steps towards decommissioning in a package aimed at ending the political impasse in the North. But the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said the implementation of the process remained the responsibility of Gen John de Chastelain's decommissioning body.
Speaking in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Mr Cowen said the two governments would indicate how four outstanding issues in the Belfast Agreement should be addressed. Apart from arms decommissioning, the issues under discussion are policing, demilitarisation and safeguarding the institutions of the agreement.
"What will be put to the parties will be indications as to how full implementation of the agreement in respect of all outstanding issues is to be addressed," he said.
Mr Cowen stressed that the process of decommissioning was a matter to be agreed between the paramilitary groups and Gen de Chastelain's commission. But he indicated the two governments would outline expectations of what progress should be made on the issue.
"There are parties that will want to have an idea of what will emerge on that front. But that can't be isolated from other areas.
"What is required for full implementation of the agreement and then of course seeing that happen in all its respects," he said.
Officials will be working on the document throughout this week and Mr Cowen suggested that it will be presented to the parties in the North shortly after the Taoiseach's return from South America next week.
Earlier, the Minister told other EU foreign ministers that politicians should not be too visionary in their ideas about Europe's future. They needed a realistic agenda to persuade citizens of the benefits of European co-operation.
He said that politicians should address the growing scepticism about Europe, regard less of whether such scepticism was justified.
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said that Europe's politicians needed to communicate their message more effectively. He referred to the slogan "If you don't know, vote no", used by the No campaign in Ireland's referendum on the Nice Treaty.
"Very powerful indeed, and it seems to me that was appealing to the sense that people aren't quite sure what the European Union is, not quite sure where it is going and, therefore, they think we should stand back from change and go for the status quo," he said.
Mr Cowen said that he hoped the Forum on Europe would invite politicians and representatives of interest groups from other member-states to take part in Ireland's debate on Europe.
"There's a need for every domestic debate to be cross-fertilised with the debate elsewhere so you can get a sense of what the European debate is in terms of what other people's views of the same issues are," he said.
Among the issues discussed at yesterday's meeting was the EU's Rapid Reaction Force, which is due to be ready for deployment in 2003. Mr Cowen said the Government remained committed to Ireland's involvement in the force, despite the outcome of the Nice Treaty referendum.
