Pooley steps into the breach cricket wounds and all

Date: 25/04/1996

Former Commission agriculture guru Peter Pooley has stepped into the breach and taken over temporarily as secretary-general of the EU farm union organisation COPA/COGECA for a six-month stint.

Peter's ruddy complexion and farm gait - he is of thoroughbred farming stock - have been a familiar sight around Brussels for 13 years as deputy director-general of DGVI (agriculture) and stand-in director-general of DGVIII (development).

Last year, Pooley chose to take early retirement and became a consultant. But following the enforced resignation from the COPA/COGECA job of Frenchman Daniel Guéguen, Pooley was seen as the obvious chap to fill in until a full-time replacement is found.

Unless, of course, he changes his mind after reading the curriculum vitae COPA/COGECA kindly sent to European Voice for perusal.

It says of its new part-time boss: “A life-long devotion to the game of cricket, which he still plays occasionally as wicket-keeper, is betrayed by his broken nose and fingers.”

A more useful piece of information to pass on to COPA/COGECA staff would be that the secret of Pooley's success, apart from a tendency to express himself in verse, is said to be the fact that when he tries to explain something to someone, he imagines that he is talking to his dog...