Brussels, 19/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - In an article published in Le Figaro of 19 February, European Commissioner Michel Barnier recalls the proposals on European defence policy made by the working group of the European Convention of which he was chairman. He above all cited the creation of a European Armaments Agency to "develop" in this area the "European reflex" that is lacking today. He also notes that the "guidelines recently taken by several European countries - the purchase by Poland of American F16 fighters, the support by four European Union States in the building of the JSF hunter fighter plane by the US group Lockheed Martin - go indisputably in the opposite direction". As far as the timetable of the work of the Convention is concerned, Mr Barnier admits that "the tension we are living through will leave a trace" and that "a little more time is needed and we should not restrict ourselves, for the conclusion of the Convention, to complying at all cost with the date of June 2003 which will soon appear as unrealistic and artificial". (We recall that the Italian government, while expressing the hope that negotiations may be completed under Italian Presidency before the end of this year, admits that the signing of the new treaty may not take place until May 2004 - therefore with the new Member States but still in Rome).