Breakdown of communication

Date: 25/06/1998

EU environment ministers may have finally reached agreement on specific cuts in greenhouse gas emissions last week, but few people realise how narrowly they avoided emerging from their marathon talks empty-handed.

Despite what you may have heard to the contrary, the problem was not solely due to the obstructionist stance of the Netherlands or Austria.

In fact, the negotiations were nearly scuppered by a clerical error which resulted in all of the ministerial briefing documents being sent to the EU summit in Cardiff instead of to the Kirchberg in Luxembourg where the environment ministers were meeting.

It took a frantic round of e-mailing and photocopying to save the day.