More on Britain's referendum - Anthony Wells has a series of interesting posts on the issue, while British Spin and our very own Matt T make some good points as well.

Folowing Prime Minster Zapatero's surprising announcement to withdraw the Spanish troops from Iraq as quickly as possible, Miguel Moratinos, the new Spanish foreign minister, now declared that the withdrawal would take place within a fortnight (Reuters). The US administration is hoping for an orderly process yet expects other coalition members will also reconsider their engagement in light of the Spanish decision and recent devolpments in Iraq. According to Reuters, Condoleeza Rice stated on ABC television's "This Week" that "[w]e know that there are others who are going to have to assess how they see the risk. ... We have 34 countries with forces on the ground. I think there are going to be some changes." (Reuters)

The Observer reports that SNCF may be about to make a move to take control of Eurotunnel. John B covers some of the background to Eurotunnel's current problems at Living in Europe

Ivan Gasparovic has defeated Vladimir Meciar to become Slovakia's next President

An interesting (though some of the methodology may be flawed) report on the possible outcome of the European Parliament elections (warning: large pdf file) suggests a likely EPP-ED/ELDR majority in the Parliament after June. Via Anthony Wells, who also has a look at the potential of the minor parties in the UK.