Officer and gentleman

Date: 25/07/1996

WHILE most of Europe is on holiday, a new occupant will be installed in the American embassy on Brussels' rue du Regent and a spacious villa in Uccle.

The few Eurocrats who were paying attention snickered when the news reached them that an unknown man from Little Rock, A. Vernon Weaver, had been nominated to replace Stuart Eizenstat as Washington's envoy to the EU.

But if they are wondering whether Weaver is up to the job, they might take some comfort from hearing that he has a reputation as, if not a jet-setter, a sophisticated traveller with much international experience to his credit.

Besides, he and his wife are not actually from Little Rock. “They really are more Florida people than Little Rock people, if that makes anyone feel any better,” says Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr, the US Ambassador to the (British) Court of St James. “He is not exactly a country bumpkin.”

The Miami native is, by all accounts, a savvy operator - and Weaver has already announced that he is ready to do business in Brussels.

Apart from a stint in 1984 as advisor to the British delegation to the European Economic Community (now known as the UK permanent representation), Weaver has little diplomatic experience.

But as Ambassador Crowe points out, the EU job “is not so much diplomatic as economic”.

And Weaver has plenty of economic experience. After serving for 14 years as the president and chief executive officer of the Union Life Insurance Company in Little Rock, he spent four years in Washington as the chief of the Small Business Administration (SBA) under President Jimmy Carter.

Carter, along with Crowe, was an old schoolmate of Weaver's. The three graduated together from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

After his stint in government, Weaver stayed in Washington, working for another Annapolis classmate - his room-mate and best friend Jack Stephens - spending 15 years overseeing the Asian and European investments of Little Rock-based Stephens Group and Stephens Inc. It was a job which kept him on the road much of the time with frequent trips to Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia.

A Stephens company résumé of Weaver's career glows with superlatives. Under his leadership, it says, Union Life attained the highest ratings possible for an insurance company, and the company's net worth grew 20-fold.

At the SBA, it says, Weaver was “a key figure in the passage of civil service reform”. While managing a staff of 4,000 in 125 offices, he helped small businesses around the country to get loans and financial aid, increased hiring opportunities for minorities and transferred government power over state-guaranteed loans to the private sector.

For Stephens, Weaver built up the company's already extensive assets abroad and branched out into extra-curricular activities, helping to launch the listed stock market in Indonesia.

“He is one of the most capable people I have ever known,” says Stephens. “He is intellectually honest and he can hold down a good argument.”

And lest Europeans should think the long vacancy at the US embassy since Eizenstat left in April reflects a lack of interest in the European Union within the Clinton administration, Crowe is quick to reject that analysis.

“The (US Senate) confirmation process is a protracted one by nature,” he points out, adding emphatically: “The US is committed to the European Union.”

As surprising as his nomination might seem, Weaver is no stranger to the president, or even to government. During his decades in Little Rock before moving to Washington to work for Carter, he befriended the Clintons and forged close ties with the Democrats.

“He is a friend of the president and he has long relations with the Democratic party,” says a colleague.

While the Stephens Group has not always supported the Democratic party (Stephens himself gave money to Bush), Weaver raised funds for the Clinton campaign.

Although it took many people by surprise, Clinton's choice may yet prove to have been a particularly prescient one, given the current tension between the EU and the US over American policy towards Cuba.

The Helms-Burton legislation has provoked more harsh words from European capitals than any trade spat in recent memory.

Weaver knows Cuba well, not only as a native of Miami - a city full of Cuban Americans hostile to the Castro regime and vocal in US politics, but also because as a naval officer he served at Guantanamo Bay, the slice of Cuba that the US kept when Castro came to power in 1959.

Weaver may have got the job in Brussels because he is a friend of the president, but that does not mean he will be a pushover. As the EU tackles the issues of defence, enlargement to the east, and increasing global trade in coming years, Weaver has made it clear he intends to speak his mind.

“I intend to be an activist in Brussels,” said Weaver at his confirmation hearings. “I will engage the

European Union leadership vigorously on the full range of issues.”

The new ambassador said he would support EU enlargement as an “urgent priority” for efforts to create market economies in Central and Eastern Europe, and also pledged to push forward the Transatlantic Agenda set by his predecessor.

“I see myself as an advocate for American business,” he said. “I will not be shy about defending key US industries, such as the audio-visual industry, against new protectionist measures, however packaged.”

Stephens has some words of advice for Europeans who may have to work with Weaver: “Be completely thorough and forthcoming, and know what you're talking about.”

But friends say Weaver is not a dour type. “He is a fun person, he is not all business,” says Crowe. “He enjoys the good life.”

If you ask Crowe or Stephens for tales of Weaver as a Navy midshipman, both chuckle and hint that any they might tell would probably be unprintable.

“At Annapolis, he was what we call 'non-reg' (non-regulation),” says Crowe. “He had a little trouble adjusting to the rules and the uniform. He was not above ignoring them if he could get away with it.”

Stephens takes a similar line. “He was not the most strait-laced person I ever saw. Some of the stories about Vernon may have lingered,” he says intriguingly.

Before going to Annapolis, Weaver had already completed a few years of university in Florida, and was “more worldly and savvy than the rest of us”, says Crowe. “He was highly respected in the company, and very, very bright.”

Even then, Weaver was a voracious reader of newspapers and magazines, history and biographies. Because of his quick mind, his friends were convinced he was destined for success.

Weaver has a similar reputation in Little Rock. At the Stephens' headquarters, where the company gave him a big send-off reception recently, colleague Frank Thomas said: “He is a true gentleman in every sense of the word.”

One secretary, on receiving a phone call from Brussels, said: “Y'all are very lucky. He is a lovely man and we're going to miss him something terrible.”

Still a voracious reader, Weaver is known as a mean backgammon and bridge player, but his wife Joyce apparently regularly beats him at tennis. He also loves spending time at the beach with his three daughters, two of whom are married.

The shock of being in Brussels may not hit the Weavers right away. It will be August, and the chances of good weather are as good as they will ever be.

The couple, whose home address is a town called Surfside, Florida, are used to the sun. Ambassador Crowe, who has become acclimatised to the London fog, says the constant grey drizzle in Brussels may be a challenge for the Weavers.

“They will be right at home in a European city, but the rain is one thing they are going to have to get used to,” he warns.