Brief items for which space was lacking in earlier editions
*** EU/Constitution: In a comment published in the Libre Belgique of 14 September, the Secretary General of the Union of European Federalists, Bruno Boissere, stated that, to provide a real chance of rekindling political Europe, "we must take Rau, Fischer, Ciampi and Chirac at their words, having opted for the opening of the EU's cosntitutionalisation process". Criticising Aznar's "nervousness, distance even" and the "dissonance or aphony" of Screoder, Amato and Jospin on the subject, the former MEP also said: "One can but note that Belgium and its Benelux partners are not playing (or no longer) in the court of the great. And yet, what prevents small and medium-sized Member States of the European Union from playing a role of vanguard or at least of architect of Europe's future, on an equally dignified footing as the large ones?".
*** WEU: The press agency AFP says, from Brussels, the WEU officials "have begun to pack their bags even before of organisation's official closure" and that some fifteen people, out of the some hundred or so currently within the Secretariat of the Western European Union, have already found jobs elsewhere, including at NATO. You may recall the intention is to maintain the residual Secretariat of the WEU (notably because Article 5, on mutual assistance, will not be taken on board by the EU Treaty) in Brussels, as well as the Western European Armaments Group (WEAG) and the WEU Parliamentary Assembly, whereas the Torrejon Satellite Centre and the Institute of Security Studies with its headquarters in Paris will move under the authority of the European Union next year.
*** Yugoslavia: Last week's polls give Vojislav Kostunica, the only opposition candidate, as winner of the presidential elections in the FRY; in particular, one poll published on Friday by the independent newspaper "Blic" gave the opposition leader 40% of voting intentions, and 22% to President Milosevic. However, according to survey by the Alternative Research Centre, 45% of Yugoslavs believe that, even though he may lose the elections, President Milosevic would want to remain in power by force. For its part, the Yugoslav regime claims that these polls are commissioned by the West and "falsified".
*** EU/Youth: In the presence of Anne-Marie Idrac and Henri Nallet, president and vice-president of the European Movement-France, the Young-Europeans-France, association that is the "young wing" (under 35) of the European Movement-France and which was created in 1992 to rally around a political, economic and social Europe, a renovation of European institutions and a "European model of higher education", held a press conference in Paris on 12 September on the subject of "Tour de France pour l'Europe". The tour, which began in Avignon on 18 August, wil end in Paris on 16 December, with a seminar on the Nice Summit in which Hubert Vedrine, Joschka Fischer, Jo Leinen and Jose Maria Gil Robles are to participate. At each stage, the participants meet prominent European personalities and, in particular, representatives of the French Presidency of the EU Council, Commissioners and MEPs. Information is provided regularly on the Internet site of the Young Europeans-France (http://www.jeunes-europ éen.org).
*** EP/Sustainable development. On the initiative of Amalia Sartori MEP, member of the Forza Italia and former President of the Council of the region of Venetia, there was a conference in Brussels last week on "Governability for a sustainable future", with the cooperation of the Council of the Municipalities and Regions of Europe. The debates, in which Inger Schorling MEP and Maria Berger MEP participated, were essentially on the European Commission's Communication on urban areas, impact assessment of infrastructure projects on the environment and the promotion of "clean production and consumption".
*** UN: the United Nations' General Assembly decided to admit as 189th UN Member State the atoll of Tuvalu (South Pacific), which has a population of some 100,000.
*** Schuman/Pfimlin: "Remembrance Day", celebrated every year in Thionville since 1973 (where Robert Schuman was an MP for 43 years), enabled participants to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, as well as to pay tribute to Pierre Pfilmin, who died recently. On that occasion, Paul Collowald (who knew Schuman and Pfilmin in the late 40s) dealt with the "state of play of the "House of Europe" since the Schuman Declaration", and, quoting from a text by Robert Schuman, hoped that at the Nice Summit the Heads of State or Government would recover "the audacity and perseverance" of the founding fathers. In addition, the project launched at the seminar on the 50th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration in Scy-Chazelles (see EUROPE of 20 May, p.8) has just ended, with the creation of the CERS (Centre Européen Robert Schuman), for which former MEP Jean Seitlinger was elected president.