8th EU Directive, French time

Some questions for our UK/European correspondents: Has the 8th EU Summer Time Directive come out? (starting in 1998) Also, is France going to move from GMT+1 to GMT+2 this spring, and are they still discussing remaining on the same time all year? (Perhaps permanent rule change might be deferred until the end of the 7th Directive in October 1997.) Has a date been set for the British General Election? Thank you. Chris Carrier