Chirac will seek to appease domestic opinion by demanding that four concessions are written into a proposed law to liberalise Europe’s multi-billion-euro

Chirac will seek to appease domestic opinion by demanding that four concessions are written into a proposed law to liberalise Europe’s multi-billion-euro market in services. But Mr Barroso told a press conference that he had already offered to review the proposed directive, that the Commission “can’t do the work of national politicians to explain what’s at stake here,” and that he “can’t replace those who have the prime responsibility”.Although he did not name M. Chirac, Mr Barroso argued bluntly: “If French public opinion is confused, I’m sorry. It’s not our fault.”Designed to break down the barriers to trade in services ­ which account for 70 per cent of European jobs ­ the services directive would allow firms based in one EU nation to offer services in another.

France is at the centre of a blistering eve-of-summit row over the future direction of the European Union, with political leaders in Paris accused of failing to do their job in explaining plans to revive the continent’s sluggish economy.
The dispute concerns a new piece of British-backed legislation that has crystallised fears in France that the European Commission supports a neo-liberal economic agenda inspired by Tony Blair. Ahead of a summit starting tonight, the European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, launched a thinly veiled attack on the French President, Jacques Chirac, setting the scene for direct confrontation today and tomorrow.With two opinion polls predicting a “no” vote in May’s French referendum on the EU constitution, M. She was arrested last week at her apartment in Montreux, where she lives with her husband, and confessed. She told investigators that she had thrown the revolver into Lake Geneva. Police have recovered three guns from the lake, two of them belonging to M Stern, a weapons collector.Mme Brossard and M Stern met four years ago.

A relationship between a high-class call-girl and a client turned into a bizarre love affair, her lawyers say, and she became the “battered victim of an unimaginable, psychological manipulation”.In today’s hearing, to which press and public will not be admitted, Mme Brossard will be formally accused of murder and her custody will be extended.. The investigation has yet to decide if the murder was an unplanned act of passion or a pre-meditated attempt to obtain large amounts of money Suggestions in the Swiss press that M. Stern asked Mme Brossard to end his life have been denied.There have also been reports that police seized her address book, which contained the names and addresses of prominent French figures. This was denied by Judge Graber.He was asked whether Mme Brossard could have been hired to kill M Stern, who had many enemies in the world of finance. He replied: “I cannot exclude the possibility of a contract killing at this stage but it is not the line of inquiry that we are concentrating on.”The greatest mystery is Mme Brossard’s two-day trip to Australia.

All that is known about her stay is that she posted a parcel to her uncle and aunt in Nancy in eastern France, containing a latex body-suit which she may have been wearing at the time of the murder.M. At first investigators thought his latex suit may have been an attempt to disguise a professional killing. But CCTV cameras at the apartment block in Geneva showed that the only visitor at the time of the murder was Mme Brossard. Stern, who was shot twice in the head and twice in the body, was found in his bedroom.

A Frenchwoman of 36 will appear in a Geneva court today accused of the murder of the financier Edouard Stern, shot dead while wearing only a latex body-suit this month. A host of other questions remain unanswered.Why did Mme Brossard, described as a “slender, elegant woman with long, blond hair”, fly to Australia immediately after the murder then fly back to Switzerland? Why did she send her aunt and uncle a parcel from Australia containing a second latex body suit and other sado-masochistic objects?Why did M. Stern, 50, one of France’s wealthiest men and the son of an ancient French banking family, give Mme Brossard €600,000 (£400,000) then block access to the money? And what was Mme Brossard’s motive and did she act alone?Her lawyers say she was driven to a “crime of passion” after being “manipulated psychologically” in a sado-masochistic relationship with the man she loved.The investigating judge in charge of the case, Michel-Alexander Graber, said her motive remained “in the shadows”. Now they are moved away from local authority areas where they are awaiting accommodation, falling off the waiting list and leaving them in limbo between councils which will not accept responsibility.Five families are challenging the validity of the law, using arguments from the European Convention on Human Rights and the Irish constitution.. It gives the Irish police very draconian powers to direct them to move off land.