08/11/1999 (Agence Europe)

Gianfranco Dell'Alba, MEP elected on the Bonino list, has welcomed the "courageous" position taken by the President of the German Federal Republic Johannes Rau in an article published simultaneously in Le Monde and the Frankfurter allgemeine Zeitung of 4 November. In the article, Mr Rau "relaunches European reasons for federalism" (EUROPE will return with more on the article, in which Mr Rau states that, "European citizens would be grateful to their country for adopting a succinct and comprehensible constitution explaining the objectives and structure of this federation"). After years during which the very idea of a federal Europe was taboo, this declaration has great significance, commented the MEP, who wonders whether it might encourage the European Commission to adopt "as determined a position" when it presents, on 10 November, its first report on the forthcoming institutional reform.