SPECIAL EDITION - BARCELONA EUROPEAN COUNCIL (15 and 16 March 2002)

(EU) EU/BARCELONA EUROPEAN COUNCIL: Jose Maria Aznar says Barcelona energy market decisions will lead to liberalisation of almost 70% of market - Commission report on services of general interest by end of year - Romano Prodi particularly satisfied about Galileo - Presidency hopes to settle matter of EU-NATO agreement in next few weeks - Before Seville, Heads of States' "correspondents" to put forward proposals on reforming Council

Barcelona, 17/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the press conference after the Barcelona European Council, the Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar was particularly upbeat about the "extraordinarily important package of liberalisation reforms", saying that the decisions taken in Barcelona about opening up the energy market for business customers would lead to de facto liberalisation of almost 70% of the market, although the figure quoted in the Summit Conclusions is a "prudent" 60%. These are...