The 35-year-old Labor Party member of the New South Wales state parliament had achieved something of a celebrity status six years

The 35-year-old Labor Party member of the New South Wales state parliament had achieved something of a celebrity status six years earlier when he publicly declared that he was a homosexual. But all the signs are that regaining popular confidence in the European product is set to get harder. Mr Bruton's hard-hitting slogans seem unlikely to be enough.. When he resigned suddenly as an MP in January, rumours about Paul O'Grady began flying.

However, even the Irish may not be entirely convinced by Mr Bruton's new campaign.On the horizon looms the prospect of the enlargement of the Union, whereby Eastern European countries will be given membership, expanding the union to up to 27 members. Ireland can only lose during this process, as the EU cake is carved up once again and funds flow out to the poorer cousins to the East.Over the next six months the Irish presidency will battle to shore up the rights of smaller countries when the process of enlargement gets under way. But he said last week: "I cannot think of anything which we cannot already do under existing EU law on employment. But we need new political focus."Ireland is well-positioned to be the country promoting new confidence in the European Union. "Secure jobs" is a slogan which has been shouted from the European rooftops for many years. Every EU summit in recent times has been presented as a "summit for jobs".Mr Bruton concedes that the slogan is little more than an attempt to focus Europe's values, and does not offer any meaningful answers to the problems of unemployment. He hopes that a new chapter on employment will be inserted into Europe's new treaty during the IGC.

It likes to boast that it is the most enthusiastic country about Europe in the Union. The causes of this enthusiasm lie all around, as signs pop up proclaiming that roads, bridges and factories have been built thanks to EU regional aid fund.European Union membership is partly the cause for Ireland's successful economy which is likely to steer it towards membership of the first wave of countries in the single currency. But European citizens so far remain unconvinced of the euro's "solidity" and are unlikely to be won over without more convincing proof of the benefits of the single currency. But promises of a new "war on drugs" are likely to ring hollow when the debate reverts to an arcane institutional wrangle over how to give the Brussels institutions more power over justice and home affairs."Solid money" is a slogan which attempts to boost confidence in the coming of the euro. "Safe streets" is intended to inspire the citizens with confidence that the EU is now playing a prime role in combating drugs and international crime. His strategy may be glossier and snappier, but its message appears to contain little that is new."Secure peace" is a slogan which will have little meaning for most Europeans, whose closest experience of war in recent times has been the conflict in the former Yugoslavia which the EU was unable to avert. In December member states will produce their own economic forecasts for 1997, thereby indicating whether they expect to meet the Maastricht criteria to qualify for the launch in January 1999.While steering Europe's engine of integration steadily onwards, Mr Bruton has chosen the additional role of bringing the aims of the Union back into focus for its citizens.