- France: the government has given the go-ahead to the privatisation of the AIR FRANCE airline with a draft law due to be presented this Wednesday 18 December at the Council of Ministers by Transport Minister Gilles de Robien. The paper marks the first step in the process, with a preliminary floatation of its shares at the stock exchange for 2003. The State still controls 54.4% of the company's capital, a figures that should fall below the level of 20%. Standing in 9th position in terms of turnover (EUR 125 billion in 2001), AIR FRANCE is third in the world for the number of passengers who are transported (43.3 million in 2001). - Italy: the Italian Minister of Communications, Maurizio Gasparri, indicated that in 2004 he hoped to launch the partial privatisation process of "Radiotelevision public Italian" (RAI). This operation depends of Parliament's approval in 2003 of its draft Italian audio-visual law.