Consumers’ champion flies to the rescue

Date: 22/02/1996

Europe's consumers have a passionate champion in the form of Commissioner Emma Bonino.

Acknowledged as the only Commissioner ever to be airlifted on to a ship in the line of duty - during the fisheries dispute with Canada last summer - Bonino has once more proved her determination in defence of issues in which she believes.

During recent talks with Commission President Jacques Santer about the EU budget, Bonino became aware that the boss might be seeking a few cost-cutting measures from her consumer affairs department.

Never one to mince words, she explained clearly and simply that if the president tried to touch as much as one ecu of her 20-million-ecu budget for financing consumer affairs initiatives, she would chain herself to the Breydel building as a protest and issue all her staff with banners and instructions to demonstrate outside the building.

Unfortunately for those who would delight in witnessing such a spectacle, Santer decided to leave the consumer budget alone.