The head of protocol

Date: 22/05/1997

US PRESIDENT Bill Clinton's over-zealous security services once stopped the Commission president's car getting through to the institution's Breydel headquarters. Jacques Santer had to get out and walk the rest of the way.

It was not an auspicious start to an official visit and is an occasion still fresh in the memory of the Commission's head of protocol Marcello Burattini.

The mix-up occurred when Clinton arrived almost half an hour early one Saturday afternoon three years ago. Nothing was ready. “I did not know what to do, so President Clinton had to stay in his car reading a paper,” explains Burattini.

“The big rule in protocol is that it is better to arrive five minutes late than one minute early. All the strategy is ready for the time when people are supposed to arrive and from that moment on, everything works. But it is very disruptive if visitors, due to mistakes made by their security, arrive a quarter of an hour early.”

Fortunately, Clinton's most recent visit to the Commission went much more smoothly. Numerous civil servants went down to meet him on arrival and he shook hands with all of them. “People who come here do not usually arouse such curiosity. That made for a very nice atmosphere.”

Burattini welcomes up to 50 heads of state and 60 prime ministers a year. “There is not a single head of state who has not come here except Fidel Castro, and the Iranians and Iraqis. I have seen them all: the Pope, the Dalai Lama, Clinton, Bush, Yeltsin.”

Some of the visits stand out in Burattini's memory, such as the time when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat arrived with security guards armed to the teeth.

Before each visit, an advance party flies into Brussels a month ahead to discuss arrangements. When the big day comes, Santer himself goes down to the Commission lobby to greet the head of state or prime minister. Official photos are taken and the Commission president then takes his visitor to his office for a private chat before a working lunch.

The seating plan is prepared in two stages. Firstly, everyone is placed in the correct order according to protocol. Then it may be rearranged to take into account the languages spoken and topics which the delegation may wish to discuss with Commissioners. Burattini tries to keep the number of interpreters to a minimum to avoid a cacophony.

The most important visits end with a press conference, but none lasts more than four hours, although some may be combined with a state visit to Belgium.

Protocol is simply a matter of creating order, insists Burattini. “We add a bit of ceremony, but the main idea is to reassure both the guests and the hosts that everything is in order,” he explains.

Some ambassadors view Burattini's presence at a function as an indication of their importance. He often has to work unsocial hours, meeting heads of state early in the morning, late at night or at weekends. “The head of state will not notice whether I am there or not, but the ambassador will,” he says.

After 15 years in the job, he is looking forward to taking early retirement next year. “My problem is that I am not master of my leisure. I can never tell my wife, 'on Wednesday night we are going to the cinema'.” Burattini says he has lots of things he wants to do after he retires, but without planning too far ahead. “I will try to do what I have not been able to do these past 15 years, which is to live without constraints.”