Attention was shifted from the European Parliament to the centre of the Council, not far from the first, in the heart of the European district of Brussels, where the spring summit dedicated to economic matters started today, late in the afternoon. The European members of Parliament met this morning and yesterday to deal with a few legislative measures. However, the opening of the session was marked by the announcement of the truce announced by ETA, Basque armed organization, welcomed positively by the auditorium. The Spanish President, Josep Borrell, stated that "it is a really positive piece of news, not only for Spain but also for the whole Europe". The hemicycle applauded Bárbara Dührkop, member of the Parliament, for long. Her husband was killed years ago by ETA’s terrorists. Dührkop made "an appeal to the unity of all the democrats in favour of peace". Today, at 5 pm, the heads of state and government of the 25 States, plus those of the candidate States, reached the Justus Lipsius Palace to tackle operating details and to deal with the commitments relating to the Strategy of Lisbon (economic competition, research, training, social cohesion). Anyway, the climax of the session will be tomorrow, at a time when urgent matters will possibly be tackled, such as the situations in Byelorussia and in the Middle East, elections in Ukraine, energy supply and protectionism.
