19/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Italian Agriculture Minister, Giovanni Alemanno, speaking at the sidelines of the Agriculture Council in Brussels and according to the agency ANSA, said that the European Council of next Friday may clear up the Italian and Finnish positions on the future Food Safety Agency. Following a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Jari Koskinen, Mr Alemanno said that it was settled between them that the agreement between Paavo Lipponen and Silvio Berlusconi on the subject "is just a hypothesis, but one that deserves expanding upon" (see EUROPE of 15 March, p.8, on the possibility of setting up a food agency in Helsinki and an agriculture agency in Parma). However, Mr Alemanno spelled out that "the Parma agency must be on an equal footing with, and not subordinate to, the one in Helsinki", and that two separate seats was a possibility, "equal, with just board which would alternate its meetings between Parma and Helsinki". He envisaged Parma being responsible for "traceability, food quality, and designations of origin", and Helsinki for "analysis of risks to humans".