Juan Velarde Fuertes" "Complutense University of Madrid" "" "

editorial" "

We need to start out from four important factors. The first is real, and its existence is impossible to avoid, at the cost of a serious economic crisis: it is globalization. During the long period from the War of Secession in the USA to the Second World War, nationalism was reinforced and the doctrine of […]

Social reforms and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the pontificate of John Paul II: these, among others, are the events commented on by the German press. “We find ourselves once again in a week of decision. Once again“, writes Stephan Hebel in the Frankfurter Rundschau (13/10). “This time, with or without the Hartz commission [i.e. the […]

The second week of October each year is traditionally dedicated to the European Week against cancer. The European Commission meanwhile announced, on 9 October, that it had selected a shortlist of new projects that deserve to be funded, following a first invitation to present proposals for research on cancer, for which provision is made by […]

According to the most recent public opinion poll, published by Eurobarometer on 10 October, public support for the priorities of some policies of the European Union is continuously growing in the ten new member states and in the three candidate countries. The survey is the most recent to be conducted both in the ten countries […]

The Court of Justice of the European Communities elected its new president on 7 October. He is the 55-year-old Vassilios Skouris, who has served as judge of the same court since 1999. He will remain in office till October 2006. A graduate of jurisprudence from the Free University of Berlin, he filled a number of […]

The Foreign Ministers of the Twenty-Five, in the course of their meeting in Luxembourg on 13-14 October, called for “a realistic calendar for the transfer of political responsibility to the Iraqi people”. They also pledged to contribute to the international fund for the reconstruction of Iraq with an initial sum of 200 million Euros (added […]

At the EU Summit (16-17 October) the Council discussed the role and status of the future EU Minister of Foreign Affairs and the composition of the Commission. The meeting – judged “very positive” by the Presidency – also served to prepare the plenary assembly of the IGC at the level of heads of state and […]

The work of the first EU summit under the Italian Presidency ends in Brussels on 17 October. Among the issues on the agenda: the discussion on the future of the European Constitution (role and status of the EU Foreign Minister, composition of the Commission after 2009, system of majority vote in Council), that on the […]

“Scepticism, pessimism, but the determination to press ahead”: that is the message on the crisis in the Middle East spelt out by the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, after his mission to Cairo, in the course of which he met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Secretary General of the Arab League […]

Europe-Africa" "

The fight against AIDS was one the main themes at the 13th Plenary Assembly of the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), which has just ended in Dakar, Senegal (30 September – 13 October 2003). The some 120 participants – presidents and delegates of the national and regional Episcopal Conferences (including […]