Items for which space was lacking in earlier editionss
*** EU/Austria: The Danish newspaper Extra Bladet reported last Thursday, without mentioning its sources, that several OSCE member countries favouring a hard line towards the Austrian Government would like to remove Austria from the Presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which it is slated to hold all year. Further, Belgium's Foreign Minister Louis Michel deems positive the idea of his Dutch counterpart Jozias van Aartsen, who has suggested that all the EU Foreign Ministers go to Vienna in April for the inauguration of the European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia (at which Commission President Romano Prodi will be delivering a speech).
*** EU/Fraud: A delegation of the European Commission's Fraud Prevention Office (OLAF) opened a bureau last week in Warsaw to monitor the use of EU funds. "Brussels wants to be sure that the money is not ending up in private hands, said the spokesman for Poland's Customs Inspection, reported AFP.
*** EU/Commission/Eurochambers: Jörg Mittelsten Scheid, President of Eurochambres, has welcomed the European Commission's strategy for the next five years, particularly its intention to give a "practical" interpretation to the subsidiarity principle, the importance it attaches to new technologies (which he believes will be the "main source of job creation in SMEs") and Romano Prodi's insistence on the need to "coordinate" tax systems (according to the President of Eurochambers, some degree of competition should be kept in the area of taxation).
*** EP/Institutions: European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine, answering questions last week during President Havel's press conference in Strasbourg, said she personally favours a European constitution. "In last June's European elections", she recalled, "I was second on the UDF list led by François Bayrou, whose platform included the adoption of a European constitution". In contrast, asked about the advisability of creating a second chamber alonside the European Parliament, she pointed out that this idea, launhced by the French National Assembly, had given rise to little enthusiasm in the other national parliaments and marked reservations among Members of the EP.
*** EP/Germany/Italy: Alleanza Nazionale MEP Cristiana Muscardini last week asked President Prodi to intervene "immediately" in the wake of an interview with Die Zeit in which Chancellor Schröder stated that, if the "neo-fascists" were voted into the government in Italy, "like six years ago", Europe would have the duty of intervening, as it is doing today in the case of Austria. Alleanza Nazionale is recognised in Italy and other countries as "a democratic and pro-European party", asserted the MEP. In the interview in question, Gerhard Schröder recalled that the other EU Member States took no measures against Italy when Mr Fini's party became part of the Berlusconi government.
*** EP/Taiwan: British Liberal Democrat Graham Watson, Member of the European Parliament, was in Taiwan last week, where he met the Justice Minister and participated in the conference of the Liberal International.
*** EP/Spain: European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine said on Thursday that she had no involvement with the declaration submitted to her by representatives of "Foro de Ermua" (whom she met in Strasbourg), although she personally continued to support the demonstration against terrorism organised for Saturday in San Sebastian under the slogan "Basta Ya". The "Strasbourg Declaration" submitted by the delegation spoke of "neo-nazism" in the Basque Community, which provoked a protest in plenary by MEP Gorka Knorr, of the Eusko Alkartasuna party (who sits with the Greens), and Mrs Fontaine's reaction.
*** EP/Strasbourg: At last week's plenary session, several Members, such as Scottish Conservative Struan Stevenson, complained about the difficulty of getting to Strasbourg during sessions (a group of Members spent 12 hours on the road getting here on Monday, the day the session opened, because of various problems and delays). Session Chair Renzo Imbeni suggested that the Members concerned form a group charged with evaluating these problems.
*** Sri Lanka/Norway: Norway's Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek is prepared to serve as Mediator between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Tamul guerrrilla forces, reported the Financial Times from Colombo, recalling Norway's role in the Oslo process between Israelis and Palestinians.