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French presidency Nicolas Sarkozy is set to visit the Irish capital on 11 July. The issue will come up at the October meeting of EU leaders and once again at the December summit where member states will be hoping that Dublin will set out a concrete plan of action.

A concrete issue where progress could be made is on a climate change deal. The EU in March last year agreed a series of ambitious goals, including reducing CO2 emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

In the run up to its presidency, France has made no secret of its desire to boost defence policy in the bloc. In a major speech on 17 June, Mr Sarkozy spoke of a making "the first step towards a genuine revival of European defence."