On Nov 2, 4:43am, Chris Carrier wrote:

[I wrote:]

...

At least we are making progress here on the cooperation front, at least until the French upset things by suggesting they would scrap the whole idea.

What is the status on that?

I don't really know at present. There was a report in the Independent (a UK `quality' paper which is unfortunately only available on the Internet via AOL, and possibly only European AOL at that) on 25 October that at least acknowledged that France would have to consult with the rest of the EU about it. It said that `Paris would ask Brussels' meaning ask the EC Commission to be exempted from the Summer Time Directive as soon as possible, either next year or 1998. If it goes into 1998 it will be the eighth Directive which is not yet finalised. I have asked my usual contact at the Commission's Edinburgh office but she can't say much about the state of this new Directive. The Commission has produced a proposal which continues the current rules for 1998--2001. It is now the Council of Ministers' turn to reach a common postion, and then approve that as a Directive. They haven't shown much inclination so far and my contact points out that she can only speak for the Commission, not the Council. The new Directive is supposed to be approved by 1 Jan 97 but I think that is vanishingly unlikely even without this new French move. The Independent report said: `After three months of discussion and two parliamentary reports, it is clear that France intends to rid itself of a device that its experts say no longer saves fuel or manpower, upsets farmers, reduces milk yields by almost one-third and disrupts children's body-clocks.' Polls show 70% of people against changing the clocks, but an even split on the question of which time to use all the year round. Farmers and families with children favour permanent summer time (UTC+2), business and transport organisations favour winter time (UTC+1). The French Senate said winter time would be a good compromise with the rest of the EU, obviously assuming it continues to change its clocks, as France would have the same time as the UK in the Summer and the same as Germany in the winter. Can any French reader of this list give any references to the two official reports, possibly even a quick summary? Don't be too surprised about the importance given to milk yields. Cattle are an important determinant of EU policy, as witnessed by the current BSE row. :-) Peter Ilieve peter@aldie.co.uk