September 30, 2003

• Air France and KLM are completing their merger. Alitalia could be a part of the new big airline.
• EU Agriculture Commissioner, Franz Fischler urged EU ministers to lift the ban on GMO food, as the EU risks facing legal challenges by the US and other countries at the World Trade Organization.
• Russia stalls on signing the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce global warming. Kyoto Protocol supporters in the EU react with consternation to Russia's decision.
• EU foreign affairs ministers have approved a controversial pension reform for EU civil servants, which is set to increase their pension age and make the new entrants work more years to receive the maximum level of pension.
• European Union: Poland and Spain are about to launch their battle to keep the current system of voting in the European Council, introduced by the Nice Treaty.
• Euro-parliamentarians urge EU governments to form a united front and protest against US President George W. Bush over the lack of rights of detainees in the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• The European Commission will not shy away from imposing fines on France if it continues to break Euro-rules, according to Economics Commissioner Pedro Solbes.
• German weekly Bunte quotes Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as saying We should pray for the pope, raising questions about John Paul II's health.