Brief items for which space was lacking in earlier editions
*** Euro/Vatican: Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini and his counterpart for the Holy See, Mgr Jean-Louis Tauran, signed an agreement on 29 December enabling the Vatican to make the euro its official currency simultaneously with Italy, i.e. from 1 January 2002. The Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, stated that the Vatican would abide by the same timeframe as the Italian Republic for the introduction of the single currency.
*** Euro/United Kingdom: According to a study conducted by the campaign Britain in Europe, tens of thousands of jobs may have been lost in the United Kingdom because the country is not a member of the euro area. The estimate is based on the analysis of more than 41,000 job losses in companies, which cited the volatility of the pound in relation to the euro as a cause of this phenomenon. The Times of 1 January also reports on a Foreign Office paper of 9 November 1970 (being made public today after 30 years of confidentiality) that allegedly proves that the British Government of the time, a Conservative government led by Edward Heath, misled the public by leading it to believe that by joining the European Community, the UK was simply joining a free trade area. The Times quotes from an internal document that shows that the government knew that plans for Economic and Monetary Union had "revolutionary long-term political implications", that it could "imply the creation of a European federal state", and that it would arouse "strong feelings about sovereignty".
*** EU/Ukraine/Environment: Dominique Voynet, French Environment Minister, expressed regret in a statement made after the decision on the shutdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power station, that international financial aid for Ukraine "can be used to build new nuclear reactors, whereas many reports demonstrate that an ambitious programme to improve energy efficiency in the country would be far less costly and more effective than the investments under consideration".
*** EU/Nice European Council/Unions: Bernd Rupp, new Secretary General of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI), said he was disappointed with the outcome of the Nice European Council, particularly as regards incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the extension of qualified majority to the areas of social, fiscal and immigration policy.
*** WTO: Le Monde is reporting that, to date, only one country, Qatar, has offered a venue (its capital, Doha) for the upcoming ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation, planned for the end of the year. Other candidacies were discouraged by the violent anti-globalisation demonstrations in Seattle, writes Le Monde's correspondent in Geneva, who notes that Qatar has the backing of several countries, including Pakistan, but that WTO Secretary General Mike Moore has sought alternatives. One of these could be Santiago, Chile. The decision is to be taken by WTO members in February in Geneva.
*** EU/Immigration/Austria/Germany: Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel stated in an interview on Austrian television that his country should give preference to labour from other EU countries rather than third countries. There are thousands of qualified young people in the EU looking for work and "I do not understand why people don't take the trouble to hire them", he stated. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder told the Bild am Sonntag that Germany "very simply needs" immigrants and that this problem will be one of the priorities of his government in 2001.
*** International Criminal Tribunal/United States: On Sunday, President Clinton signed the statutes of the future International Criminal Tribunal (which will particularly be judging war criminals), but without recommending its ratification by the Senate. Had the United States not signed the Treaty, it would not be in a position to influence the development of the future Court, said the outgoing President. Jesse Helms, the (Republic) Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, has already vowed to work with the new President of the United States, George W.Bush, to prevent ratification. The future Defence Minister, Donald Rumsfeld, approved last November an initiative by Congress aimed at ensuring that the Court will not be able to prosecute US servicemen. On 31 December, the treaty was also signed by Israel and Iran, raising the number of signatories to 139. But only 27 countries have ratified the treaty so far, while 60 ratifications are needed for entry into force.
*** Bosnia: The High Representative for Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, in his New Year's message to Bosnians, issued a warning, saying the international community "is about to lose interest in Bosnia-Herzegovina", whereas the latter is "still far from resembling a modern country (...) capable of joining the family of European states".