Mr. Carlucci said none of the principals at the Brussels meeting disagrees with the basic idea of improving conventional forces.

"The E.C. will not make major concessions during the Brussels meeting," said a Japanese official.

Less than a week before the Brussels meeting, France and Germany are battling over rival candidates to run the central bank.

The Brussels meeting is the latest in a series of international conferences on Iraq in the last couple of years.

He said the Brussels meeting would give such a framework "new impetus."

The Brussels meeting created a predicament for the F.B.I. and its intelligence division in Washington.

But the data presented at the Brussels meeting made it clear that something strange was happening: the therapeutic power of the drugs appeared to be steadily waning.

At the next Brussels meeting of the European Council, the Council's first multiannual programme will be presented.

So I agree with the Socialist Group's suggestion that the Schulz report be voted on in two weeks' time at our next Brussels meeting.

Merger policy is on the agenda of today's Brussels meeting of the Internal Market Council.