Items for which space could not be found last week
*** EU/Feira Summit: Presenting the results of the European Council of Feira to the Parliament, Spanish Prime Minister Mr Aznar rejected the reproaches made by the Socialist opposition, which accused him of joining forces, during the summit, with London which is "putting a brake" on European integration, instead of joining the French and German "driving force".
*** EU/EMU/Greece: After the decision by the Feira Summit to endorse Greece's entry into the euro zone, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis stated that Greece is thus joining the "hard core" of the European Union, and that it can better use the opportunities provided by European integration. It is a "qualitative leap", he stressed, recalling that Greece will be presenting its report on stability and growth in October or November this year.
*** EU/EMU/Portugal: Mr Tavares Moreira, Vice-President of the main opposition party in Portugal, the PSD, affirmed last week (while specifying that it was mainly to "provoke" discussion) that Portugal could leave single currency "during two or three years" in order to bring its economy back to a balanced situation. The former governor of the Bank of Portugal affirmed in this context that Portugal's very high external deficit (which could reach 12% by the end of the year, he said) would justify such a decision.
*** EU/taxation/Portugal: Alberto Joao Jardim, President of the Regional Government of Madeira, affirmed that, if the EU, in further action on the taxation agreement reached at the Feira Summit, "insists on the case of Madeira", then it would be ready to call upon the services of "good lawyers to take the matter before the Court of Justice".
*** EU/Constitution/Commission: European Commissioner Michel Barnier commented to the French diplomatic press on the draft European Constitution launched by Alain Juppé and Jacques Toubon. He welcomed the fact that such a contribution on Europe's future had been made to the debate. Mr Barnier mainly welcomes the fact that the project has given up the "mad idea" of a European government whose members are ministers in their own countries also, while he is highly critical of the idea of doing away with the European Commission and exclaimed: "The Commission is an inspired idea of the founding fathers!"
*** South East Europe/Defence: The Secretaries of State for Defence of Greece, Italy, Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM and Romania examined, during their meeting last week in Athens, the arrangements for the functioning of the multinational South East European force and the Italian proposal to create, in parallel, a police force within this framework.
*** EP/Illegal immigration: After the tragedy involving illegal immigrants in Dover, German Green member Ilka Schröder, MEP, affirmed that the European Union must, as an "immediate measure", put an end to its border controls. Unless an agreement is reached very soon on this, Germany will have to go forward alone, she said, stating that experience in "the trafficking of human beings" at the former FRG and GDR borders should encourage her country to adopt a "humanitarian asylum policy".
*** EP/Gibraltar: In a press release, British Conservative MEPs, with Timothy Kirkhope leading them, expressed indignation about the withdrawal of the invitation made to Gibraltar's Prime Minister, Peter Caruana, who was to have spoken before the EP Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights about the inability of Gibraltar's citizens to vote in European elections. The invitation, it is stated in the press release, was withdrawn as a result of pressure from Spanish MEPs.
*** EP/Holocaust: MEP Frédérique Ries (Belgian Liberal) has forwarded to Shavah Weiss, President of the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, the declaration written by the European Parliament on the Holocaust memory, a declaration of which she is the author, with Belgian Liberal Willy De Clercq, also MEP. Ms Ries made this gesture during the visit to Israel of the EP Delegation for relations with that country.
*** EP/Brenner: CDU elected member Georg Jarzembowski considered as exaggerated the protests made at the Brenner Pass over recent days. He said they are "clearly unlawful" even though they are defended by the Tyrol government. In the interest of the transport of goods and people in Europe, we must keep this major means of transit between North and South open, he said, recalling that the EPP Group at the European Parliament has long taken a stance in favour of the constuction of a Brenner tunnel, with major EU co-funding.
*** Austria/Libya: The Agence France Press points out that Jörg Haider declared upon his return from Tripoli where he had been with a large delegation of businessmen from Carinthia, that he had on this occasion formed economic ties concerning, above all, the banking sector and the wood industry.