07/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - In a joint letter to the President of the European Council, Costas Simitis, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen called upon the European Spring Council, on 21 March in Brussels, to decide to create a working group chaired by an "eminent" person, who would be responsible for suggesting practical solutions to EU Member States to combat unemployment more effectively. In their letter, Messrs Blair and Lipponen express concern about the worsening rate of unemployment in Europe and pose a series of problems: population ageing, the need to take migrant workers into Europe, and the role of women on the labour market. (On the subject of the unemployment rate in the EU, see EUROPE of 5 March, p.10).