THE government is hopeful it can secure agreement that all EU member states can retain their guaranteed European Commissioner at this week's crucial European Council meeting.

Some movement on this issue is regarded as vital by the government in advance of putting a second referendum on the Lisbon treaty before the people next year.

While there is an acceptance in government that a second referendum is in­evitable, there is a strong view the same proposition cannot be put to a vote and that there will have to be clearly identifiable differences.

The retention of the right to nominate a representative to every commission – which the treaty proposes diluting to each country having a commissioner for 10 out of 15 years – would be a significant difference.

There is resistance among other countries to reverting to the old 'one country, one commissioner' system but, following a series of meetings with EU leaders in recent days, there is cautious optimism that Ireland will be granted some concessions at Thursday's meeting.

However, well-placed sources warned there is no guarantee of final agreement this week.

It had been believed the bigger countries, in particular Germany, had been most opposed to any change back to the system where every state had the right to nominate a representative to each commission. But it is understood some of the smaller countries also have reservations. They believe they may have a better opportunity of getting one of the more influential commissionerships under the system proposed under the Lisbon treaty, whereby countries take turns at the commission table.

In return for having a second referendum on Lisbon, the government will also seek legal guarantees on Irish sovereignty over issues such as taxation, abortion and neutrality. While this had been seen as more straightforward – given the view that Lisbon did not actually impinge on these issues – sources said it was "not a foregone conclusion" that this would be agreed.

The other EU states are unwilling to attach any new legally binding protocol to Lisbon that would force them to re-ratify the treaty. There is also a view among some states that "they stuck to the rules", so why should Ireland get a special exemption on, for example, taxes?

One possible solution being put forward is that the legally binding concessions might be attached to the treaty dealing with Croatia's accession to the EU in 2010/2011. This would negate any need for states to re-ratify Lisbon.

Meanwhile, prominent No campaigner Declan Ganley yesterday told the Sunday Tribune his organisation, Libertas, has compiled the necessary information for the Standards in Public Office (SIPO) to comply with electoral legislation. He also said Libertas' solicitors had "expressed con­cern" correspondence it had with SIPO had been released into the public domain.

It was reported yesterday that Ganley had not responded to a request from SIPO in relation to a loan he has said he gave to Libertas during the referendum campaign.