Time out for the one you love

Date: 18/07/1996

European Parliament President Klaus Hänsch's willingness to turn out to attend just about any public engagement anywhere, anytime, for anything, is a credit to his dedication. But sometimes even the most senior of EU officials needs to be taught that devotion to duty can sometimes be at the expense of responsibilities elsewhere.

Hänsch's aides were so concerned recently about his tireless work rate that they set him up with a dinner date during an official visit to Luxembourg.

Hänsch did not flinch when he checked his schedule and discovered that he was spending the evening with the local foreign correspondents' association: how was he to know that the Grand Duchy has no such body?

Instead, when Hänsch walked into the restaurant where the meeting was to take place, he found his wife waiting for him.

What was she doing there? The president's entourage had remembered what Hänsch himself had forgotten - that this particular day was the couple's wedding anniversary.