Brief items for which space was lacking in earlier editions
*** EU/Commission/Constitution: According to a report put out last week by The Times, European Commissioner Chris Patten favours the adoption of a European constitution and says so in an interview that will be published in Prospect magazine in June. "I don't believe in a federal Europe. I do believe in a Europe in which the powers of governments and the rights and responsibilities of people are much more clearly defined", states Mr Patten. The former Conservative Pary Chairman notes that, "to deal with the most understandable and plausible Eurosceptic argument -where we are going- you have to be prepared to sit down and actually agree on what it is we are trying to create, (..) what we mean by closer political union and by subsidiarity. You have to define what powers are going to rest with whom and at what level". "I used to think what we should do is go on finding our way through the fog, but I don't believe any more that that's a valid option", observes Mr Patten.
*** Kosovo/United States: The American Senate last week rejected a bill establishing a timeframe for the pull-out of American troops from Kosovo. Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Serb National Council in Mitrovica, reacted by stating that this was just a "political game" to show voters that the United States is prepared to reduce its presence in Europe. He added that he is willing to see the Americans replaced by Europeans, particularly French and Italian soldiers.
*** EU/Turkey: Outgoing Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, on the eve of leaving office, appealed for more freedom of expression in Turkey. "Our preparation must continue, so that Turkey can join the Union in the first decade of the 21st century", he said. His successor, reformer Ahmet Necdet Sezer, former President of the Constitutional Court, was sworn in last Tuesday. On 5 May, immediately after being elected, he too had called for democratic reform. Mr Sezer (age 59) has long argued for a revision of the 1982 Constitution. Member of the European Parliament Feleknas Uca (PDS) said he has great hopes that the new President will improve the human rights situation and abolish the death penalty.
*** EU/ESDP: In an address last week at the European Policy Centre, CFSP High Representative Javier Solana admitted that "we are short of strategic transport, intelligence and command and control assets", and that these shortcomings could only be made up by short- and medium-term increases in defence budgets and, "in some cases by a significant re-orientation of our defence efforts". The new challenges "will often be far from home", he added, mentioning the Balkans, the African Great Lakes region and Sierra Leone, and asserting that, to deal with such hot spots, it will not be enough to count on "static and defensive" ground forces.
*** EU/Conscientious objection: The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection celebrated on 15 May the International Day of Conscientious Objection to military service, expressing the hope that the right to object to military service should be recognised by all EU Member States without discrimination, that the applicant countries should recognise this right and organise a non-discriminatory alternative civilian service, that Member States should offer the right of asylum and refugee status to conscientious objectors from countries where they are not decently protected by law and that the future EU Charter of Fundamental Rights should also cover the right to conscientious objection.
*** Greece/United Kingdom: Greek Foreign Minister Georges Papandreou appeared before the House of Commons Committee on Culture on 5 June to explain the Greek position on the return of the Parthenon friezes, currently in the British Museum. The United Kingdom claims it legally acquired the friezes, which British Ambassador Thomas Bruce Elgin bought from the Ottoman Empire in 1806 (they are known as the "Elgin Marbles" in the UK).
***EP/Greens: Member of the EP Bart Staes (Volksunie, Greens), Chair of the EP Delegation for Relations with Central Asia, fell ill, probably as a result of overwork, at last week's plenary session in Strasbourg. He is recuperating and is in good health, said Nelly Maes, also a Belgian Member of the Greens, but Mr Staes' mission to Kazakhstan and Kyrgistan will no doubt have to be postponed.
*** EP/EPP: MEP Doris Pack (CDU) has been unanimously elected President of the Executive Committee of the Union of EPP Women. The Committee also adopted a resolution calling for women's rights to be classified as universal rights and not as minority rights, and debated a position paper on bio-ethics.