ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE: ITALIAN PRESIDENCY SEEKS ESC OPINION ON COHESION POLICY.

"Europe must find the political energy to deal with the accession of the new countries without neglecting the poor regions of the Union", declared Rocco Buttiglione, who went on to ask the ESC for an Opinion on this subject. "If you compare the economic geography of the United States and Europe, you see only one economic zone in Europe, a single self-sufficient zone shaped a little like a banana and stretching from London to Milan", he noted. For the Italian Minister, to tie in the more remote areas to this strong economic zone, it is urgent to build the trans-European transport networks as soon as possible. These will make it possible to distribute activity and production more evenly and will make the Union more competitive, said the minister. "For now, we have a Ferrari engine, but no wheels. Without wheels we will not be able to profit from our engine", said Mr Buttiglione, requesting another ESC Opinion on "Transport - European transport networks - Development of connections", following the cautious backing given by the EcoFin Council on July 15 for the European growth initiative supported by the Presidency and the Commission (see European Report 2793, Section II). The Italian Minister for European Affairs also requested an ESC Opinion on "The role of organised civil society in the new European strategy in support of the Western Balkans". "We do not want Italian soldiers to linger too long on these territories, especially because they are not there to protect the population from an enemy on their soil", he said.

EU/Brazil relations.

The Co-operation Agreement signed between the European Economic and Social Committee and Brazil's Council for Economic and Social Development, during the visit by Brazil's Labour Minister and CDES Executive Secretary Tarso Genro, will lead to the sharing of experiences in social and political consultation and promotion of the economic integration of Brazil and Mercosur with the EU and vice versa. The Chair of the ESC contact group with Latin America, Jose Maria Zufiaur, called for a stronger social dimension in Mercosur and an institutionalised civil society, making social cohesion the main theme of relations between the EU and Latin America. European Commission President Romano Prodi, in a letter read aloud at the plenary and addressed to Roger Briesch, expressed the support of the European executive for co-operation to strengthen the development of Mercosur and of its organised civil society for a more...