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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 01-01-03
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Service Presse et Communicationb
03/01/2001
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Romano Prodi congratulates Adrian Naastase
[02] Commission releases Unisource from its reporting obligations under the
competition rules
[03] Euro-zone unemployment unchanged at 8.8% in November 2000 ; EU15 down
to 8.1%
[01] Romano Prodi congratulates Adrian Naastase
Further to the approval by the Romanian Parliament of the new Government,
the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, sent on 29 December
2000 the following message to the Romanian Prime Minister, Adrian Nastase :
"On behalf of the European Commission and on my own behalf I have the
pleasure to convey to you our warm congratulations on the occasion of your
nomination as Prime Minister of Romania, and the approval by Parliament of
your new Government. The coming period will be an eventful and important
one, as the process of accession of Romania to the European Union advances.
The Commission warmly welcomes the commitments given by your Government to
continue and develop the reform process in order to reach that objective.
Implementing these reforms will undoubtedly be a difficult process. At the
same time, this is the only way of successfully fostering social and
economic progress in Romania and preparing your country for membership of
the Union. I wish you and your Government every success in the tasks which
lie ahead of you, and I hope to continue and strengthen further the close
cooperation that already exists between Romania and the European Union."
[02] Commission releases Unisource from its reporting obligations under the
competition rules
The European Commission has released Unisource, the telecommunications
alliance between KPN of The Netherlands, Telia of Sweden and Swisscom of
Switzerland, from its reporting obligations following the Commission's
exemption of the operation in 1997. Unisource has divested most of its
operations, retaining only the provision of sales to multinational
companies. They have also repealed both the non-compete clauses which
prevented the parent companies from competing with Unisource and the
exclusive dealing arrangements. In view of these developments and taking
into consideration the competitive situation on the relevant market, the
Commission has concluded that the Unisource cooperation no longer
appreciably affects competition. It has has therefore repealed the 1997
exemption decision and replaced it by a negative clearance decision.
[03] Euro-zone unemployment unchanged at 8.8% in November 2000 ; EU15 down
to 8.1%
(! embargo 12 am !) Euro-zone seasonally-adjusted unemployment was
unchanged at 8.8% in November 2000 compared to October, Eurostat reports
today. In November 1999, the rate was 9.6%. The EU15 rate fell to 8.1% in
November 2000 from 8.2% in October. In November a year earlier it was 8.9%.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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