- France: The National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) published a recent update on its "Directory of State majority controlled companies" in which it draws an assessment of the French privatisation programme since 1993. According to this study, the French State deeply restructured its stakes over the last eight years and, on the eve of 2001, practically all the privatisation programme defined by the law of July 1993 are now completed. The results of this systematic study are qualified as "spectacular': in fact since 1993 more than 1,100 companies, including subsidiaries, left the control of the State, that is to say that the States now holds less than 50% of their capital. In 1999, the State still controlled 1,540 companies against 1,785 one year earlier. - Germany: the German government announced the sale of the national publisher, the BUNDESDRUCKERI (3,500 employees), to the British capital investment company APAX PARTNERS for one billion Euro. - Nigeria: according to the national press, the Nigerian State intends to sell in 2001 the government stake in the national airline company NIGERIA AIRWAYS, the national telecommunications agency NITEL - NIGERIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS and its four oil refineries.