When in Brussels

Date: 24/07/1997

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin may have reiterated his long-term goal of joining the EU last week, but he has a lot to learn about European ways.

The European Commission's staff were shocked by quite how difficult he and an unprecedented 23 cronies were during his Brussels visit.

The food was not good enough, he was unwilling to talk to journalists and when he agreed to a press conference, he demanded his staff chair it.

Commission chief spokesman Klaus van der Pas drew the line at that, but this did not deter the Russian ambassador from wandering over at regular intervals to 'advise' Van Der Pas on which journalists to pick from the sea of hands. Questions would then emerge such as: “Could you please tell us about the EU's terrible anti-dumping practices and the harm they are causing our country?”