A wave of recent news articles (posted at http://fire.pppl.gov) portray the European Union as determined to proceed with or without concurrence from Japan. Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for Science and Technology, in a speech March 3 at the JET facility in the UK, said, "The EU has spared no effort and has made an offer to Japan that in all respects is comparable to the Japanese proposal. For example, it includes provision for a real partnership of Japan and the EU in ITER and for the EU to procure some key systems from Japanese industry. Technical discussion has now gone as far as it can. I have proposed to our Japanese partners to sit together and find an acceptable compromise at a high political level." However, a March 4 Reuters news agency report quotes Satori Ohtake, Director of Fusion Energy at the Japan Science and Technology Ministry, as saying, "High level political talks would be fruitless. If we were to hold such talks forcibly, we would only reach deadlock. Technical discussions have not been completed yet. We must continue the discussions. Japan's proposal is better, and it is clearer in many ways than the EU proposal."

The European Council discussed the situation at its March 7 meeting in Brussels and will take it up again at its next meeting, April 18. Agency France - Press (AFP), on March 7, quotes Research Minister Francois Biltgen of Luxembourg, who holds the rotating EU Presidency through June, as saying, "Work on ITER should begin by the end of this year. That means a decision should be taken under the Luxembourg Presidency."