By their CVs shall you know them

Date: 16/05/1996

Members of a panel probing the remaining obstacles to the free movement of people in the EU recently submitted their life histories for scrutiny and more interesting than the contents were the varying lengths of the entries.

Simone Veil, who is heading the eight-member panel, managed a CV of just one page, despite a considerable political track record which could have been recounted at much greater length.

Tony Venables, that well-known Brussels-based Euro-citizens' champion, crammed his credentials into just one paragraph. Another panellist, Professor Pierre Pescatore, a former distinguished judge at the European Court of Justice, was even more concise, originally believing he was so well-known he need not submit a CV at all.

But for a lesson in how to make a CV run and run we must turn to Professor David O'Keefe. His list of achievements, despite being the second youngest member of the panel, goes on for 14 pages. Admittedly some of that space is taken up with future hopes - “I intend to carry out research into several areas of European Community studies” - but questions have been raised as to whether this over-achiever ever has time for normal pursuits such as sleeping.