Brussels, 30/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - During the International forum that is taking place in Stockholm on the theme "Fighting intolerance", the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the EU for "a positive reassessment of its immigration policies" and on the President of the European Council Goran Persson to "not consider immigrants as a problem, but as a solution to the labour shortage presently noted in several Union countries". Mr Persson, as for him, called on "the European governments to tackle the problem of Roma, whose persecution makes them the most marginalised of the European family" and felt that "political leaders were partly responsible for the rise of racism". As for the European Commission, they feel surprised by such criticism, all the more so that last November, the Commission published, on the initiative of Antonio Vitorino, a communication launching a wide ranging debate on asylum and immigration and in which it clearly moves against "zero immigration" (see EUROPE of 23 November, p.13).