Brief items for which space was lacking in earlier editions
*** EU/Turkey: Speaking to the press in Ankara, the European Commissioner responsible for accession negotiations with the candidate countries, Gunther Verheugen said that Turkey had not made the progress hoped for regarding human rights reform and democratisation. "There is currently political stagnation, Turkey is wasting time. Almost a year has already been lost", Mr. Verheugen is alleged to have said according to journalists on the ground. The Commissioner then set out among the expected reforms: the freeing of political prisoners; the abolition of the State of emergency in the four provinces of the south east with a Kurdish majority; the authorisation of the teaching and broadcasting of the Kurdish language. In addition, the death sentence should also be abolished. Mr. Verheugen did, however, welcome progress made in Turkey in carrying through programmes aligning its legislation on that of the Community. For his part, after a meeting with Mr. Verheugen, Mr. Ecevit declared that his country was busy meeting the economic and political conditions to open accession negotiations with the EU "sooner than planned".
*** EU/Slovenia: at the end of a visit to Ljubljana last week, European Commissioner Mr. Verheugen declared that Slovenia would be "among the first candidate countries to join the European Union" and that "the EU's enlargement process was now irreversible".
*** Banking secrecy/Liechtenstein: Liechtenstein's Banking Association has decided to abolish anonymous accounts. This decision will soon take effect for all new accounts that are part of the Association (i.e., 10 of the 15 main banks); the holders of anonymous accounts already opened will have a period of grace of 1 to 2 years. Banking secrecy remains unchanged, the Association writes when announcing its decisions. EUROPE recalls that the OECD included Liechtenstein on the list of countries whose banks did not cooperate in the fight against money laundering.
*** EU/Lebanon: the European Commission's delegate to Lebanon, Dimitris Kurkulas, reaffirmed that the EU did indeed intend to intervene effectively in the reconstruction of southern Lebanon, but that there were first indispensable conditions that had to be met for this intention to take concrete effect: a) the reestablishment of State authority in this region still controlled by the guerrillas that previously fought Israeli occupation; b) the drawing up of valid projects. It is not a question of money, as the EU will meet its undertakings, but of preparing projects.
*** Bangemann/Telefonica: The taking up of his post as special advisor to the Presidency of the Spanish firm Telefonica by Martin Bangemann, former European Commissioner, has been postponed sine die. Appointed in October 1999, Mr. Bangemann should have begun his duties on 1 July, but the uncertainty of the situation of the group's President, Juan Villalonga, led the interested parties to adjourn the move. According to sources close to the group, no decision will be taken at Telefonica's board meeting, to be held on Wednesday 26 July.
*** EP/"Stateless nations": On the fringe of the European Parliament's July plenary session in Strasbourg, Camilo Nogueira, Pere Esteve and Neil McCormick MEPs presented to the press the "answer of stateless nations to Jacques Chirac and Joschka Fischer: , on behalf of the Euro-MPs for Catalonia, the Basque country, Galicia, Andalousia, Scotland, Wales and Flanders, that make up the "Stateless Nations" Intergroup in the European Parliament. The Intergroup's MEPs accuse the German Foreign Minister and French President of proposing a political Europe based on States, and demand, for the" Stateless nations", an "institutional place in EU institutions". One has not to confuse our demands with "xenophobic nationalism" or the "imperialist" nationalism of the past, says Scottish MEP Neil McCormick. The member for Galicia, Camilo Nogueira stipulates that the Intergroup, which is open, currently has fourteen members, and the MEP for Catalonia, Pere Esteve, considers that Europe has "a historic opportunity", in the ongoing IGC, to "recognise the plurality" that makes up its richness.
*** EURO/Germany: the appeals court of Dusseldorf regarded as irregular the attribution of public contracts for the minting of two thirds of the coins in euros in Germany. The call for tender will thus have to be renewed, announces the Financial Times Germany. Security errors were already observed a few weeks ago in the printing of the 100 euros in Germany, which could cost 33 million euro to the German Central Bank.