Items for which space could not be found last week
*** EU/China: European Commission President Romano Prodi said during the recent EU/China summit that Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji had assured him China would keep its reserves in euros despite the weakness of the European single currency over recent months.
*** Euro/French Presidency: The president-in-office of the Ecofin Council, Laurent Fabius, last week told the National Assembly's delegation for the European Union that "we have a euro with an important margin of appreciation, at least 20%" (from "20-25%", he then specified). In his view, the euro is weak mainly because it is not yet a reality for Europeans. At the moment, he remarked, "it is a little like dancing without music and without a partner".
*** EU/Food Agency: Kalevi Hemila, Finnish Agriculture Minister, told a group of journalists from several EU Member States that Helsinki would be the best location for the future European Food Agency. Denmark, Sweden and Austria formally supported Helsinki's candidature and "four or five others" welcomed the idea positively, he said.
*** EU/Switzerland: The referendum on the question of whether the Swiss do or do not want their government to open negotiations for EU membership will be held on 4 March 2001, the Swiss General Council announced. We recall that the general affairs and economy ministers, Joseph Deiss and Pascal Couchepin, fear a "no" at the referendum (generally considered as the most likely result).
*** EU/Spain/United Kingdom: The Andalusian junta pointed out it will call on the Spanish government to initiate action before the EU Court of Justice against the United Kingdom for failing to apply the Community legislation concerning the repair of the nuclear submarine "Tireless", in Gibraltar.
*** EU/United Kingdom: In response to a question put to the Commission President during his press conference on 31 October in Brussels on the criticism expressed by The Economist with regard to the European Commission, Mr Prodi replied that the British weekly is the "perfect bible of the non-believers".
*** EP/United States: The European Federation of Green Parties welcomed the campaign conducted by the Green candidate to the US Presidency, Ralph Nader. "We regard the democratic deficit in the USA with concern (…) Look at how Ralph Nader has been excluded from the Presidential debates, and at the 'big business' funding of both the Republican and the Democratic campaigns", said Marian Coyne, spokesperson for the European Greens.
*** FRY/Montenegro: According to an independent inquiry published by the Montenegrin daily, Vijesti, a majority of Montenegrins would vote for independence if a referendum on the fate of the Yugoslav Federation were to be held today. According to the survey by the Montenegrin Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, 48.1% of those questioned are in favour of an independent and autonomous State of Montenegro, and 38.9% are opposed. However, in response to another question, only 36% of those questioned say they wish for total independence, while over half wish to maintain a sort of union with Serbia, possibly through a new alliance.
*** Kosovo/Council of Europe: The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Walter Schwimmer, welcomed the result of the first free elections in Kosovo. "The victory of the moderate forces of Ibrahim Rugova and the announcement by Hashim Thaçi that his party will cooperate with these forces in the municipal councils are positive signs for the stabilisation of Kosovo", he noted.
*** EP/United Kingdom: British Labour member Richard Corbett said in a press release entitled "All we need is books!" (echoing "all we need is love!" by the Beatles) that he deplored the fact that it is impossible to buy the English version of "The Beatles, the Anthology", in France, even in the British bookshops there. Only the French translation is available and it is not even possible to buy the original by mail order, points out Mr Corbett, who notes that the only way to circumvent this blockage is to order not the British but the American English version from a distributor in the United States, at double the price of the French version. Will this book have to be "smuggled" into France?, asks Corbett - the European representative of Liverpool; the Beatles' home town, who denounces this obstacle to the free circulation of goods in the European Union.
*** Cyprus/United States: President Clinton said he was disappointed not to have managed, during his term of office, to make more progress on the question of Cyprus. "I have always felt that Turkey should be integrated into Europe", he said, adding that Turkey and Greece "Turkey and Greece should be natural allies because they are allies in NATO".