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WORLD
I'hursday • Marc
New ^ euro , to rival strength of American dollar
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Europe’s quest for a continent-wide cur
rency got a big boost Wednesday when 11 nations won the go-ahead for
adopting the euro at the end of this year.
The choice of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium,
Portugal, Finland, Ireland, Austria and Luxembourg is expected to be con
firmed by European Union leaders in a final decision at a summit May 2.
When the euro is launched Jan. 1, the 11 countries will form an eco
nomic powerhouse accounting for almost one-fifth of the world’s eco
nomic output and trade.
When euro banknotes and coins hit the streets two years later, 290 mil
lion Europeans will be using the same currency—meaning death for the
German mark, the French franc and the Italian lira — and a new rival to
the U.S. dollar.
“It is the beginning of a new era,” French President Jacques Chirac pro
claimed in Paris after the EU’s executive body, the European Commission,
announced its selection in Brussels.
The only member of the 15-nation EU left out was Greece, which nev
er stood a chance because of its shaky economic performance. Britain,
Denmark and Sweden have thus far declined membership in the unified
European monetary club for fear that ditching their currencies will erode
their independence.
The euro will revolutionize the way Europe does business and create a
global currency that could rival the American dollar as reserve holdings
in the vaults of the world.
The nations will lock in their exchange rates with respect to the euro,
which will become a tradable currency.
But the single European currency is much more than an economic ex
ercise. It is a political act that may do more than anything else in the pre
vious 46 years of the organization to unify continental Europe.
Euros will not go into circulation until 2002, but banks and govern
ments will be adopting the currency on paper next year.
Under the current timetable, the euro will come into beingjan. 1,1999.
That will launch a three-year conversion period that will include the in
troduction of euro notes and coins by Jan. 1, 2002, and a final withdraw
al of national currencies from circulation by July 1, 2002.
Italy made the list despite its huge national debt — $1,327 trillion or
A step closer to one currency
The European Commission, the
European Union’s executive body,
has approved 11 countries which
have met the criteria to join the
single currency, called the euro,
Jan. 1, 1999.
Nations to share the
euro currency
(Total
population
290 million)
Netherlands
Belgium
fc* Gross
domestic product
(% of world total)
■ Euro zone
M United States
MJapan
19.4% 19.6%
Finland
Germany
Luxembourg
Austria
Italy
► Trade
(% of world total)
18.6%
Source: AP research
AP/ Wm. J. Gastello
121 percent of gross domestic product — which violated one of the EU’s
main criteria for eligibility.
While some EU nations see Italy as a potential threat to the euro’s sta
bility, Rome’s commitment to intensified debt-cutting was sufficient for
it to sneak in.
Annan melts Israeli hostility with courtly diplomacy
JERUSALEM (AP) — Chipping away at
decades of ill will between Israel and the Unit
ed Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi An
nan melted Israeli hostility Wednesday with
his courtly diplomacy.
Annan, paying one of a few visits by a U.N.
boss to Israel in the past four decades, vowed
to overcome suspicion and misunderstand
ing and usher in a “new era.”
Even though a U.N. resolution paved the
way for Israel’s creation in 1948, relations have
been poisoned for much of the period since.
Israelis were riled by a 1975 U.N. resolution
equating Zionism — the founding ideology of
the state that gathered in Jews from the cor
ners of the Earth — with racism.
What he referred to as the “lamentable
resolution” was rescinded in 1991, but An
nan conceded it was the low point in U.N.-
Israeli relations.
“Its negative resonance even today is diffi
cult to overestimate,” Annan said. He gently
noted that Count Folke Bernadotte — the
Swedish U.N. envoy who was assassinated by
pre-state Jewish extremists — had made the
“ultimate sacrifice” in the search for peace.
Even though U.N. forces stand between Is
rael and Syria in the Golan Heights and patrol
south Lebanon near Israel’s northern border,
U.N. diplomats have played a marginal role at
best in Arab-Israeli peacemaking.
The last U.N. chief to visit Israel was Butros
Butros-Ghali of Egypt, but he came to attend
the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin after the Israeli
leader was assassinated.
Before that, Javier Perez de Cuellar came to
the region in 1983 following Israel’s invasion
of Lebanon.
Israel campaigned vigorously for the re
moval of another U.N. secretary-general, Aus
tria’s Kurt Waldheim, after questions were
raised about his wartime actions in the Balka
ns with the Nazi army.
Annan’s Mideast tour, especially his visit
here, has raised the possibility of a much
higher profile for the secretary-general in the
regional peace effort — especially in the
emerging initiative to withdraw Israeli troops
from south Lebanon.
His diplomacy won plaudits from both
sides. In a Palestinian refugee camp, Annan
was greeted with shouts of “Kofi, Kofi,” while
even the toughest-minded Israelis were quick
to praise him.
Tense negotiations held It
weapon shipments toYugi
BONN, Germany (AP) — The
United States and five European
nations agreed Wednesday to ban
weapons shipments to Yugoslavia
next week and threatened Presi
dent Slobodan Milosevic with new
economic sanctions if he does not
arrange unconditional peace talks
with ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
The accord was reached over
Russia’s objections. Until the final
hour of the talks, Foreign Minister
Yevgeny Primakov held out against
setting March 31 as the deadline for
the U.N. Security Council to ap
prove the
| weapons ban, a
j senior U.S. offi-
; cial said.
In tense ne
gotiations with
Secretary of
State Madeleine
Albright and her
counterparts
from Germany,
France, Britain
and Italy, Pri
makov ex
pressed con
cerned that the
weapons ban,
once imposed, would never be re
moved, said the official, speaking
on condition of anonymity.
Russia has negotiated a $ 1.5 bil
lion arms deal with Yugoslavia. Al
bright said at a news conference a
weapons ban probably would ap
ply only to new deals, but the offi
cial said it would stop all undeliv
ered weapons.
In the United Nations, Russia has
lobbied against a ban, but now has
committed to support a cutoff. Chi
na, which could use its veto to stop
the embargo, is expected to abstain
on a resolution, the official said.
“I will not pretend the Contact
Group agreed on everything," Al
bright said, referring to the delib
erations of the six nations that
oversee the restive Balkans in
southeast Europe.
Among the demands set out in a
joint statement by the six nations
was that Milosevic make a start on
an unconditional dialogue" with
leaders ol the Albanian community
in Serbia’s Kosovo province, where
‘Our judgment here
is that he has failed
to make sufficient
progress.”
Robin Cook
British Foreign Secretary
Serbian special poke-
clashed with civilian;
pie were killed.
“We are making A
hold President Milo-
able” if the talks are
other demands are
bright said.
Primakov, in ah e
ment, said merely,“V. . m
to strengthen thepor ° u
en in Kosovo sincetherG*
ters met in London?f.
I hese included and' 1
ment concluded Mor . c ,
leh
•' m;
1 tig
wis
ith
the
sta
irni
or
I Cc
ssh
in
suiiiciem progress.
F’rench Foreign Mq
Vedrine told French: Wit
ictions gavi tei
couragement. 1 'He:: rai
however, that "ware* Ai
ty to pressure.” bal
The foreign min: 0,
meet again in four > to
evic does not yield dly
mands. If he doesr of
ment said, “we shat to
apply further mease 3 se
These include a Tars
goslavian assets _
United States, meat us
try to arrange a k hh
ments in Yugoslavia ,ca '
hurt an economyalt^od
from mismanagemT g*;
tion and isolation.
Albright and the e
peans said they did iev<
independence fortr? 16
banians who makeii re . c
percent of Kosovo's )ni(
and they condemn; lst
acts by all sides.
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