Mijail Gorbachov visits Barcelona Forum 2004.

Mijail Gorbachov visited the Barcelona Forum 2004 yesterday and, according to El Mundo, his visit was a great success. Gorbachov addressed the day's big theme which was "How about doing a global perestroika?" and as well as giving a talk on the subject, he answered questions from the audience. Gorbachov was critical of the US invasion of Iraq and suggested that the troops there should withdraw and be replaced by Moslem military forces.

Gorbachov also gave his opinion about the expansion of the European Union. He said it was important to include more Eastern European states if the EU was to reach real European unification. Organisers were delighted with the size of the audience in the Forum, apparantly the largest yet to attend one of these sessions.

Talking of Europe, the European Election campaign in Spain is hotting up here, with the two main candidates, Jaime Mayor Oreja (PP) and Josep Borrell (PSOE), due to meet in the first of three televised debates this evening. It will be interesting to see which one makes the best impression.