Brussels, 19/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday in Brussels, the European Parliament President opened the plenary session with a tribute to Commander Massoud. She called on MEPs to observe a one-minute silence. "It is with great sadness and intense emotion" that Nicole Fontaine evoked the memory of he who "carried in him the hopes of an immense majority of Afghan people", and who, in April, had sent the European Parliament a "very powerful message of the absolute need for peace". The EP President regretted that the chancelleries "had not sufficiently answered the appeal".
Ms Fontaine then spoke of security at the EP and said she is to send a letter to The Daily Telegraph to "protest against the diffusion of such grave erroneous information" (see EUROPE of 18 September, p.6). She assured MEPs that the Parliament's security was under "constant" surveillance. Security measures were stepped up on 11 September and may be further reinforced after a meeting of the Bureau on Wednesday evening.
The EP amended its agenda, postponing the Council and Commission declaration on the meeting of the informal Ecofin Council as well as the Langenhagen report on Galileo and the Rubig report on innovation.