Items for which space could not be found last week
*** France/Germany/IMF: French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius and his German counterpart Hans Eichel announced on the occasion of the French-German Economic Council (Wirtschafsrat) meeting in Grenoble last week that France and Germany will be presenting a joint initiative on reform of the International Monetary Fund.
*** EU/Austria: In an interview for the Portuguese radio RTP, Jörg Haider affirmed that, in order to lift the bilateral sanctions of the EU, "it is the EU which must change" and "not Austria". Mr Haider (who recalled that he will be at the head of the FPÖ until May) mainly criticised Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, reproaching him with being the main person responsible for the sanctions and for wanting to give the "false impression that this was an unanimous decision" by the Fourteen.
*** EP/Monetary: Christa Randzio-Plath, Chair of the EP Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, deplored the fact that Mr McDonough, Chair of the Basel Commission on Banking Surveillance, had cancelled at the last minute and without giving any explanation his attendance at the hearing of this commission on the new framework for adequation of own funds. The German Social Democrat said she was following the discussions on this matter with much concern as they clearly show that Europe and the United States are defending different interests. Above all, Ms Randzio-Plath denounced the "discrimination" towards foreign banks established in the United States, on which, she notes, the FED imposes own fund requirements which go beyond the existing agreements.
*** EP/Tibet: German Christian Democrat Thomas Mann, Chair of the "Intergroup Tibet" at the European Parliament, urged, on the occasion of the interparliamentary conference on Tibet, for dialogue to resume between China and Tibet (High Representative Javier Solana told me the EU will call for such dialogue, he states in a press release). Mr Mann presented his ideas on China, such as that of "One nation - many systems", considering that this must be true not only for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan but also for Tibet.
*** EP/Health: MEP Raffaele Costa (Forza Italia) points out that the European Commissioner for Health, David Byrne, has, in response to his question on the possible negative effect of GSMs on health, said that so far research financed also by the EU has not allowed such effects to be noted. Mr Costa, however, believes more should be done to ensure that exposure to electromagnetic radiation due to the use of these devices is not harmful in the long term, given that this kind of telephone has become "a mass phenomenon directly concerning dozens and dozens of Italian and European citizens".
*** EP/organised crime: During a first exchange of views in the committee on the report by Mr Skinner (British Labour member), on the subject of the action plan on capital investment and job creation, British Conservative Mr Purvis recalled that, in the post-war period, there was above all in Italy and Germany a "flowering" of small and often family firms which have since become much larger. He commented, that we "we are perhaps too comfortable" and need "the spurn of necessity".
*** EU/Libya/Morocco: In an interview with the television channel Arab News Network, broadcast before the EU/Africa Summit in Cairo, President Ghaddafi affirmed that Morocco's accession to the European Union "would be a dangerous aberration, and we reject it". "Morocco is a member of the Arab nation and of the African continent", he declared.
*** Spain/Women: With the election of Luisa Fernanda Rudi as president of the Congress of Representatives, and the re-election of Esperanza Aguirre as president of the Senate, Spain has become the first European country to have two women (both from the People's Party under Prime Minister Aznar) at the head of both houses of its parliament.
*** United Nations: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan launched on 3 April the "Millennium Report" defining the challenges of the 21st century which will be discussed during the "Millennium Summit" to be held on 6 September in New York. The report contains "alarming facts", mainly concerning the environment. Other facts are "pretty shaming", concerning poverty, he noted, while stating that it also highlights "amazing progress" made during the last half a century, and the fact that "new technology puts many things within our reach that previously were not".