A wasted opportunity

Date: 15/05/1997

Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm was not best pleased last week when he paid a special visit to MEPs only to find that the man who had demanded that he appear had not bothered to turn up.

Where was British Socialist MEP Alan Donnelly? On a plane to Washington for talks on transatlantic relationship-building. Donnelly had publicly harangued Zalm over changes made by finance ministers to the 'stability pact' to enforce fiscal discipline in the single currency zone and threatened to vote against the pact unless Zalm listened to Parliament's views and took them on board.

To soothe MEPs' anger, Zalm took the unusual step of making a special trip to Brussels for a two-hour lunch with leading members of the committee.

He was not the only one angered by Donnelly's non-appearance. Other MEPs were a bit uncomfortable too, but tried to soothe ruffled feathers by promising to tell their absent colleague that Zalm had made the effort.