urgent further efforts should be undertaken by the Commission with the US, with the overall objective of improving the balance currently available. Such efforts, where necessary, should include clarification of the results so far. Such efforts should focus on more balanced market access provisions, with particular emphasis on freezing cabotage. It is necessary, in particular, to establish the strongest possible linkage between a Phase I Agreement and the proposed Second Phase Agreement. The perspective of the EU-US Summit was noted. The Commission is to report back.

Equality between all the Member States and a balance between the Union’s institutions are the best guarantee of a fair, efficient Europe Moreover, the latest Eurobarometer indication is actually that the European citizens appear to be drawing closer to Europe and its institutions even more quickly than we might have imagined.

In the asylum field, the Council has now received all the legislative proposals necessary to implement the first phase, covering the establishment of minimum standards for asylum procedures and reception conditions for applicants, criteria for determining which Member State is responsible for examining an asylum application, the definition of what is meant by "refugee" and the alignment of additional forms of protection.

While most stakeholders who came before the House of Commons justice and human rights committee recognized that Bill C-3 strikes a balance between the need to ensure the security of the state and society and the need to protect individual rights and privacy, a number of them expressed concerns about the potential short-term effects of this bill.

The Council considers it essential to preserve the balance of resources in certain zones of high biological sensitivity, it being understood that the sensitivity of such zones will require close monitoring to determine the fishing effort, and keep track of resources in order to be able to take the measures necessary to preserve the balance, where appropriate.

5. The first reflections of the group indicated a large degree of consensus on several aspects of the transition process to a single currency, as regards - the necessary continuity of contracts and legal obligations on moving to stage III: - the lack of need to maintain or re-create any form of an ECU basket on moving to stage III, even if all Member States do not immediately participate in the final stage of EMU. 6. Vice-President Christophersen welcomed the decision of the Group to organise hearings in the near future with representatives from professional business organisation (banks, SMEs, retailers etc.) and with consumers.