Brussels, 05/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Commission Romano Prodi held, on Friday evening in Brussels, with the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder a two and a half hour informal dinner that took place, according to what was indicated by the Commission spokesperson, in a "very friendly and very warm" atmosphere. Mr. Prodi and Mr. Schröder discussed a wide range of European issues, including the situation in Austria, added a spokesperson, while underlining that no initiative has been taken aiming to modify the situation created by the decision of the 31 January on the bilateral sanctions by the fourteen (see above). Given the informal nature of the meeting, it was agreed to reveal nothing of its contents, said the spokesperson.
Following the dinner of Thursday evening, Romano Prodi indicated to the journalists who where questioning him that "yes, we had a long conversation on Austria and many other things; it was a very pleasant evening, we reviewed all the problem of Europe," and this brought to the fore "a very strong unity of intentions and feelings" he said. As for Chancellor Schröder, he kept himself to answering with a "nein" to a journalist who asked him if there was developments with the Euro (on this issue, see below, the declaration published by the President of the European Central bank.
Furthermore, the President of the European Commission had, on Friday morning in Brussels, a meeting with Laurent Fabius, the new French Finance Minister. This informal meeting covered issues that you can well imagine, said the Commission spokesperson while limiting himself (obvious allusion to the position of the Euro: Ed.).