SPAIN: MADRID: EU SUMMIT PREVIEW

Описание: (15 Dec 1995) Span/Eng/Nat

Leaders from the European Union will meet this weekend in the Spanish capital, Madrid, for an E-U summit.

Spain is currently holding the rotating presidency of the 15-nation trade bloc.

Spanish Prime Minister and E-U president Felipe Gonzalez has been praised for his leadership of the E-U but he is losing popularity in his native Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez is capping his country's six-month presidency of the European Union this weekend by playing host to heads of state from the 15-nation trading bloc.

Gonzalez's record in the E-U is impeccable, his EU partners say, especially compared to France's dismal performance during the E-U's previous presidency.

Spain has been instrumental in furthering the E-U's agenda of monetary union and freeing cross-border movement of E-U citizens.

It has also been praised for creating relaxed gatherings of heads-of-state such as September's E-U summit in Mallorca.

But the highlight of the Spanish presidency came when European and Mediterranean nations pledged a new era of peace and prosperity in Barcelona in November.

That prompted foreign observers to say the conference was the first landmark on the road to fairer relations between the rich northern Mediterranean states and their poorer Southern neighbours.

A further sign of Spain's growing prestige in Europe came earlier this month when the NATO allies chose Foreign Minister Javier Solana to become the alliance's new secretary general.

After his appointment Solana reassured Spain's loyalty to the alliance.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Spain is a loyal ally into NATO and will continue to be so in the future."
SUPER CAPTION: Javier Solana, Spanish Foreign Minister and NATO Secretary General

Despite success abroad, Gonzalez's image has been severely tarnished at home, and for quite some time.

His government, which critics say is dying on its feet, has been obliged to call early elections, battered by serious accusations of financial scandals involving close aides.

More seriously for Gonzalez, a dozen senior police officials and top socialist appointees including a former interior minister have been accused of involvement in death squads that killed at least 27 suspected Basque terrorists.

In spite of its international reputation the government is losing popularity at home.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"As soon as they hold some power, they only have one thing in mind: greed and profit, as they know it won't last forever."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop

And to add injury to infamy, a booby trapped car set by suspected ETA Basque terrorists car killed six Navy employees in Madrid Monday.

Spaniards are shocked at the wave of violence the government has been unable to control.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Disgusting, revolting. We have gone back to the medieval times when one would kill just for the sake of killing."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop

This was for Spaniards a painful reminder of Gonzalez's poor record at home to solve Spain's most awkward and lethal problem: Basque separatism.

It will be a monumental task for the conservative party leader Jose Maria Aznar - the man opinion polls show is Gonzalez's most likely successor as prime minister - to put an end to ETA's 27 years of terrorist campaign for independence in Spain's northern Basque provinces.

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