Brief items for which space was lacking in earlier issues
*** EU/Espionnage: Former CIA Director JamesWoosley has responded to accustions that the United States used the Echelon system to spy on behalf of US companies, saying that "most European technologies are not worth stealing".
*** EU/Austria: Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish Foreign Minister, stated in an interview with the newspaper Demari that the Schüssel government was set up "under totally democratic conditions" and that, "if, after a sufficiently long observation period, it has done nothing illegal, the measures adoped by the Fourten on 31 January should be reconsidered". Questioned by the press on this subject in Paris during his visit to the different capitals ahead of the Lisbon Summit, Antonio Guterres replied as follows: "We adopted a common positon and only these fourteen countries can change it one day if there are conditions of change in Austria justifying such a mesure".
*** EP/Kosovo: Mr Alavanos, Greek member of the European United Left group in the European Parliament, stated during the election campaign in Greece that Athens should oppose any further transit through Greek territory of NATO troops headed for the Balkans.
*** EP/Caucase: Per Gahrton, Swedish member of the Greens and EP rapporteur on South Caucasus, stated upon his return from a visit to the region, during which he met the Presidents of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, that all the political leaders he had met were prepared to seek compromises on unresolved problems. Accompanied by several members of the Greens, Mr Gahrton said his impression was that "the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabach may well restore relations with the states they have chosen to leave, Georgia and Azerbaijan, provided they are guaranteed the most extensive autonomy possible, according to interntional law".
*** EP/Holocaust: The Hebrew State-Europe Intergroup chaired by MEP Willy De Clercq last week adopted a written declaration calling for a greater effort to promote remembrance of the Holocaust. Mr De Clercq invited all Members of the EP to sign the declaration.
***EP/Cooperatives: Democratici di sinistra MEPs Mrs Paciotti and Messrs Pittella and Vattimo have written to President Prodi, noting that no decision has been taken yet on the place in the European Commission of the unit on "cooperatives, mutuel societies and new forms of partnership", and pointing out that representatives of the sector have made known their wish to see these competences assigned to the Directorate General for Entreprises. After months of hesitation, an early decision would make it possible to establish a framework for the development of a European policy on this type of entreprise, note the MEPs.
*** EP/Robert Schuman Foundation: ÖVP Member of the EP Othmar Karas was elected last week by the EPP group in the European Parliament as Vice-President of the Robert Schuman Foundation. Austria, which shares borders with several applicant states, can offer useful experience to the applicants within the framework of the activities of this Christian Democrat think tank, commented Mr Karas.
***Greece/Turkey: Nea Demokratia leader Mr Karamanlis said last week that true rapprochement between Greece and Turkey will only be possible if the Cyprus problem is solved.
*** United States/Iran: Mrs Albright announced last week that the US embargo against Iran would be eased (imports of carpets, caviar and pistachos will be authorised) and that the United States was prepared to restore Teheran's assets frozen in 1979.
*** EU/Women: At a conference on "Europa Rosa 2000", representatives of the Associazione italiana del Telefono Rosa presented a video and brochure in Brussels produced within the framework of the EU's Daphne programme to combat violence against women.
*** Council of Europe/Youth: The Youth Centre of the Council of Europe inaugurated last Saturday its European Secondary School Student Exchange Week, with the participation of pupils, teachers and parents. Last autumn, 62 young people from Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia and Russia participated in the programme, which was launched at the initiative of the Norwegian government and will be extended next year to Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania.