Brief items for which space was lacking in earlier editions
*** EU/Eurogroup: Regarding the official name "Eurogroup", chosen by the Council to define the group of countries members of the Euro at ministerial level, French Finance Minister and President of the EcoFin Council Laurent Fabius declared "as is often the case, our change of name is significant. The countries of the euro want to affirm themselves as coherent group, sharing the same economic policy philosophy and wanting to play a major role on the financial and international stage".
*** EU/Yugoslavia: The European Commissioner for external relations, Chris Patten, joined the French Presidency and Javier Solana, High Representative for Cfsp, in expressing his consternation following the condemnation of the Serb journalist Miroslav Filipovic. Mr. Patten denounced the "show trial", whose only purpose was to "intimidate the free press in Serbia", and reaffirmed the Commission's commitment to "stand by Serbia's brave independent journalists".
*** EU/Fiji: George Speight, instigator of a coup in Fiji, and 300 of his followers were transferred to two small islands east of Suva, declared prohibited zones. George Speight was arrested last Wednesday and risks being indicted of high treason for having threatened the life of President Josefa Iliolo. (See EUROPE of 26 June, pages 3 and 4, for the EU's declaration on Fiji's possible suspension from the Lome Convention, were legality and democracy not restored in the archipelago).
*** EU/SMEs: In a joint declaration regarding the European Commission's proposal for a multi-annual programme, BDI, BDA, DIHT and ZDH, Germany's main economic associations, stated that the new SME programme and Charter were on the right track and that emphasis should especially be placed on introducing innovative products and techniques and access to new technologies.
*** G8/Industry: The Global Business Dialogue on e-Commerce (GBDe) welcomed the initiative taken at the G8 Summit in Okinawa in favour of electronic trade, in a declaration published by the heads of the world's foremost companies, including MIH and Alcatel. GBDe committed to work with interested developing countries to help ensure a policy and regulatory environment that will facilitate the growth of the Internet and e-commerce in a country or a region, and has already begun such an effort in partnership with ASEAN countries.
*** EP/Germany: German Social-Democrat Karin Junker MEP and Chair of the Community of Social-Democrat Women, welcomed the awarding of the "International Statesman Award", by the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, to Barbara Schmidhuber MEP, also Social-Democrat. Mrs. Juncker underpins the work accomplished by Mrs. Schmidhuber, especially in favour of North-South relations and for the disabled (in the EP, she chairs the "All Party Disablement Group").
*** Sweden/Russia: According to an official document from the services of the Swedish Prime Minister, the Russian authorities are said to have admitted that the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg "probably did not die of natural causes" in the Moscow prison where he was held in 1947, but that "he was killed" in his cell. During World War II, Mr. Wallenberg saved over 100,000 Jews by issuing them with Swedish visas.
*** Afghanistan: Mohammad Omar, head of the Talibans in power in Afghanistan, announced on Friday the total ban on the growing of poppies in the country, says AFP. According to the UN, with a harvest of 4,600 tonnes in 1999, Afghanistan is responsible for three-quarters of the opium traffic in the world. In the spring of this year, American Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright denounced the "total complicity" of the Taliban regime in the drugs trade.
*** Kazakhstan/nuclear: The site of Semipalatinsk, where some 500 nuclear tests have taken place over 40 years, was definitively closed down last week. A spokesperson for the National Nuclear Centre of Almaty said that all the site's infrastructure had been destroyed.. This is the culmination of a five-year plan funded by the United States, with which Kazakhstan had signed agreements in 1993 and 1995 on the prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the eradication of weapons of mass destruction.
*** Libya/United Kingdom: In a speech at "Speakers' Corner" in Hyde Park, London, Aicha Gadhafi, daughter of the Libyan President, praised the IRA, declaring that they were "freedom fighters". Aicha Gadhafi , who had been authorised to visit London with other members of her family, quickly left the United Kingdom, probably on the orders of her father, writes the "Sunday Times", which reported the incident and stated that the visit by President Gadhafi's family had been encouraged by the British Ambassador to Tripoli, Richard Dalton.