” ” Reducing smog by reducing Co2 emissions by using state subsidies for scrapping old cars, building "environment-friendly" vehicles, using bio-fuels, even in Formula 1 races. These are some of the measures listed in the report of the MEP Georgios Chatzimarkakis, which has been submitted to the EU Parliament, which is holding a meeting from today to January 17th. The document speaks of rising the funds to be invested in research and urges "an improvement in road safety". Strasbourg will also be busy with the first initiative of the Assembly of the 27 EU member states, as part of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue: Ahmad Badr El Din El Hassoun, Great Mufti of Syria, a religious leader of the Sunni Muslim community, will speak at Parliament tomorrow. Appointed Mufti by the President of Syria, Assad, in July 2005, he was born near Aleppo in 1949; a graduate of Arab literature and an expert of the Shari’a at the school of El Azhar (Egypt), Hassoun is a MEP and a member of the Supreme Religious Council of Syria. During the year, the EU Parliament will host a number of people from the political, cultural and religious worlds, including Pope Benedict XVI, the Dalai Lama, the president of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and the president of the African League.
