Strasbourg, 15/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - Opening the May plenary session on Monday evening, the President of the European Parliament, Ms Fontaine, expressed her condolences to the families of the victims of the Enschede explosion, in the Netherlands, last Saturday. She also denounced the assassination of Spanish journalist José Luis de la Calle, an anti-frankist who "fell under fire from another dictator, that of terrorism" (the ETA).
The Parliament decided that the votes on the Goebbels Report (adoption of single currency by Greece), the Katiforis Report (broad economic policy guidelines) and the Pomes Ruiz Report (stability and convergence programme) would be held on Thursday instead of Wednesday.
The Parliament added another point to the human rights section of the debate on urgent and topical issues, namely the safety of spectators during football matches (the request was made by the EPP). It rejected the request, supported by Mr Cohen-Bendit for the Greens and Mr Würtz for the European United Left, that discussions should also cover human rights in Tunisia. Mr Baron, President of the Socialist Group, proposed a substantive debate on this theme on the basis of a question in Council.