Brief items for which space was lacking in earlier editions
*** EU/VAT/culture: French Culture Minister Catherine Traumann said in an interview with the daily "Le Progres" that she would take advantage of the French Presidency of the EU Council to plead in favour of lower VAT rates for records.
*** EU/United States: Gunter Burghardt, new European Commission ambassador to the United States, said, at a ceremony at the White House when taking up his post in Washington, that "European unification has always had a transatlantic dimension", and that now European and American leaders "must work together to rebuild consensus among our citizens for multilateral trade liberalisation". Mr. Burghardt stated that he also intended "helping to engage constituencies on both sides of the Atlantic in dialogue", and President Clinton replied that he shared with Mr. Prodi "a strong interest in advancing the 'people to people' dimension of our relationship".
*** EU/Austria: A poll conducted last week in Denmark shows that only 30% of the Danes approve the declaration of fourteen Member States of the Union announcing a freeze on diplomatic relations with Austria following the formation of the coalition with the FPO, and that 56% disapprove. In addition, in answer to questions, Malta's Prime Minister, Mr. Adami, said that he did not believe that his country was "at this moment" expected to take measures like those of the Fourteen, while admitting his concern at the situation in Austria.
*** EU/Enlargement: Over a working lunch organised in Brussels by the European Policy Centre, President Prodi referred to EU enlargement stating in particular that, in a recent series of visits to applicant countries in Eastern Europe, he had felt how much their leaders "understand the spirit of Europe". A member of the Romanian Parliament defined himself on that occasion to be "a representative of the non-Hungarian minority" in Parliament, said Prodi. He also stressed the efforts entailed in the work of translating and interpreting texts and words into all the languages of an enlarged Union, exclaiming: "we shall have to interpret from Maltese into Finnish!".
*** EU/Commission/CEMR: On the occasion of his visit to Paris where Jacques Delors handed him the "European of the Year" award, Mr. Prodi, says a press release from the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), "made a point of seeing Mr. Giscard d'Estaing, CEMR President, with whom he discussed enlargement, the forthcoming IGC, the future French Presidency, and CEMR/Commission working relationship.
*** EP/Indonesia: stating in a press release that he was concerned at the "persecution" of Christians in the Molucca Islands and Western Timor, the MEP member of the CSU, Ingo Friedrich said that the European Union should stop all aid to Indonesia were religious freedom not secured.
*** EP/Albania/WTO: the Euro-MP member of the Bonino list, Olivier Dupuis, said that, "according to reliable sources", the European Union has decided to back Albania's request to join the WTO, but that, "according to equally reliable sources", one member country, France, is said to be blocking accession.
*** EP/Drugs: the OVP member of the EP, Hubert Pirker, took part in the "International Drug Control Summit 2000", in Washington, and on that occasion set out his ideas regarding the "School, drug-free area" that he would like to see achieved throughout Europe.
*** EP/Nobel Prize: the Euro-MP member of Democratici di sinistra, Claudio Fava, has sent a letter to the Nobel Prize Committee signed by 52 MEPs proposing the Association des Meres de la Placa de Mayo for the Nobel Peace Prize 2000. You may recall that the mothers of vanished Argentineans have already received the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament.
*** Greece/Turkey: At the end of the visit to Athens by his Turkish counterpart Mr Cem, Greek Foreign Minister Mr. Papandreou announced the setting up of a committee chaired by Stelios Perrakis responsible for cooperation between Greece and Turkey in European affairs.
*** Council of Europe: the European Court of Human Rights has observed 19 new cases of Italy's violation of the European Convention in cases relating to the excessive length of proceedings. In all these cases, the proceedings were on average 10 years. In one case they even took 28 years and 5 months.
*** Press: Geert Linnebank, aged 43, of Dutch nationality, succeeds Mark Wood as editor-in-chief of the press agency Reuters, where he was "Editor, News Products". Geert Linnebank joined Reuters in 1983 in Brussels, having worked for AP-Dow Jones, and began working as a journalist with Agence EUROPE.