“We are satisfied that the Irish presidency has put the sixth seat in its proposals on those points on which there is still no agreement”, Dr Gonzi said.

“However nothing has been finalised. Discussions are ongoing and the package has still not been accepted,” he said. “We will not have agreed before we agree on everything”.

“Malta is still lobbying through diplomatic contacts, which will continue in the evening. We have to convince them that there is the need for the sixth seat,” Dr Gonzi said.

“We are making our arguments and it seems that they are being heard,” he said. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern’s visit to Malta “was very useful since Malta’s voice was heard,” as the presidency documents show.

Another example of this, Dr Gonzi said, was the position adopted by the presidency regarding the treatment of islands with capital cities on them, which was favourable to Malta’s position.

The Maltese Prime Minister said there was “a good basis” on which one could reach agreement “preferably by tomorrow” on the EU Constitution.

However, Dr Gonzi warned again that “we should not take everything for granted. We do not know when this thing will be concluded, perhaps not even tomorrow. The situation is fluid”.

He said that in the first session of the European Council, Mr Ahern gave a presentation of the points on which there was broad agreement as well as the other points on which there still was no agreement.

Mr Ahern then asked each country to state its position on those areas in the EU Constitution on which there was still no agreement, such as the minimum number of seats in the EP, the question of whether to have a commissioner per member state, the issue of qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers, and the issue of the mention of the EU’s Christian heritage, Dr Gonzi explained.

“Malta, along with other countries, is still insisting on the mention of the EU’s Christian heritage in the preamble since this was in the vision of the founding fathers of the Union,” he said.

Dr Gonzi said that Malta agreed with the concept of team presidencies but still had to discuss the mechanism of how this will work.

On his part, Foreign Affairs Minister John Dalli said that Malta had held a meeting with ‘like-minded countries’ yesterday morning in a bid to reach agreement.