Brief items for which space was lacking in earlier editions
*** EU/Serbia: Speaking to the press, Fry President Wojislav Kostunica said that he had been "more than satisfied" at having participated in the Summit of the seven Balkan countries, in Skopje last week. Regarding his short meeting with Javier Solana, he admitted that it had been "very difficult", possibly "because I still have in mind the events of 1999" (Nato bombing, at a time when Solana was Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance).
*** EU/far-right: The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, said in an interview with the weekly "Famiglia Cristiana" that one should never drop one's guard against movements like that of Haider, in Austria, the Vlaamsblok in Belgium and the Lega Nord in Italy.
*** EU/Russia: In a 99-page report it published view of the EU/Russia Summit, Human Rights Watch calls on the European Union to take Moscow before the courts for not having initiated a credible enquiry into accusations of murder and torture of civilians in Chechnya.
*** EU/EP/Austria: Othmar Karas MEP (OVP) turned strongly against France's Minister for European Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, who said in Strasbourg last week that he was not sure he would be going to Vienna on his rounds of the capitals of the "small" countries which were against a ceiling on the number of European Commissioners (Mr. Moscovici said that his rounds would precede the ones President Chirac is to make before the Nice Summit, and who should, for his part, be visiting Vienna on 23 November). "Mr. Moscovici is a private person who may choose the destination of his trips", said Karas, while noting that the visit the mattered the most for Austria was that of Jacques Chirac.
*** EP/Italy/Charter: A dispute broke out in Strasbourg last week over the positions of Forza Italia MEPs (who, in the European Parliament, sit with the EPP/ED Group) following remarks by the President of the Socialist Group Enrique Baron on the vote by the party of Silvio Berlusconi, in the Italian Chamber, on a Charter of Fundamental Rights other than the government's. The Forza Italia MEP Antonio Tajani reacted strongly and came to speak before the press accompanied by the President of the EPP Group Hans-Gert Poettering, and distributed a text proving that in fact the FI had voted in favour of the Charter. Meanwhile, the text of the resolution approved by the FI that may be found on the Montecitorio Internet site demonstrates (as the member of Democratici di sinistra, Pasqualina Napoletano, pointed out to the press) that Forza Italia really did want a re-negotiation on certain important aspects of the text.
*** EP/China/Tibet: On his visit to China last week, Per Gahrton, Swedish member of the Green Group in the European Parliament said that "it is possible to find a solution", to the problem of Tibet, "as long as the Beijing regime takes the Dalai Lama's proposals concerning limited self-government seriously". "I have proposed that the Dalai Lama should become provincial governor, which has provoked great interest amongst low representatives of Beijing", he says in a press release.
*** EP/euro: Forza Italia MEP Raffaele Costa has asked the Commission and Council if they considered that, following the "devaluation of the euro not only in relation to the dollar, but also in relation to other main currencies", it would not be appropriate to invite the managerial bodies of the ECB to present a detailed report on the situation of the euro before the European Parliament (as well as reducing the number of staff in the ECB from 770 to 300 people). The MEP also wonders whether "we should not review the dates planned for replacing national currencies by the euro", considering "the people of the euro victims of inappropriate policies".
*** EP/Tunisia: Olivier Dupuis MEP, member of the Bonino list, has asked the European Commission whether, following the fourth case brought against Mocef Marzouki (who had just returned to Tunisia from Morocco where he had taken part in meetings of the Euro-Mediterranean Network of Human Rights), it did not believe that "the time has come to broach the human rights clause aspect of the EU/Tunisia Agreement". Mr. Dupuis notes that the accusations levelled at Mr. Marzouki could lead to prison sentences of up to twenty years.
*** EP/CEJI: Pasacale Charron, Director of the European Jewish Information Centre (CEJI) welcomed the efforts undertaken by Michael Cashman MEP for greater EU funding for the Centre. Mr. Cashman said that, "considering the present situation in the Middle East, which has resulted in some alarming racist and anti-Semitic incidents, there is a pressing need to intensify the efforts of organisations such as CEJI in the development of civil dialogue and prejudice reduction, also especially in view of EU enlargement".