30/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - Despite new suggestions form Karl Lamers and Jürgen Rüttgers new suggestions for France and Germany to become the "hard core" in Europe (EUROPE yesterday p 4), the French minister for European affairs, Noëlle Lenoir, appealed for "a new "frontier for the Franco-German couple". The most recent issue (February-march) of the Confrontations Europe newsletter, headed by Philippe Herzog MEP (GUE, France), will be beginning with a contribution from MS Lenoir affirming, "that this will not involve imposing a Franco-German directorate but rather a creative desire at the service of European cooperation". Lenoir believes that the frontier on which the "couple" could mobilise is the "challenge for adapting our model of society and the return to the road to sustainable growth". The minister pointed out that "We account for almost 60% of the GDP of the Euro zone…and together we initiated the Euro. Lenoir also indicated that "the areas in which we now have to wok together, to restore the capacity of our economies to produce growth are of a different magnitude". She highlighted innovation, training, cohesion and "the revitalisation of our demography". In short, the need to "invest in immaterial capital and human resources and to help Europe prosper by following medium term targets". (Confrontations Europe. 41, rue Emile Zola. 93107 Montreuil Cedex. http://www.confrontations.org ).