Commissioner’s plum tree plunge sparks security alert

Date: 05/09/1996

SECURITY is under intense review at the European Commission after two senior personnel were injured in mysterious summer 'accidents'.

The seemingly unconnected incidents have thrown the spotlight on the vulnerability of top officials when unsupervised during the holiday period.

Now serious consideration is being given to round-the-clock 'minders' for those most at risk from doing silly things when allowed away from their desks.

The alert has been triggered by the widely-publicised gardening horror in which Commissioner Karel Van Miert plunged to the ground from a plum tree, breaking his arm and also breaking every rule in the book about security precautions for prime targets.

Van Miert, in charge of competition policy, is said to have fallen out of the tree while harvesting fruit.

This, in itself, is cause enough for alarm about difficult-to-replace decision-makers engaging in highly dangerous holiday pursuits such as hang-gliding, abseiling and, of course, plum picking - but police are working on the grimmer theory that the Van Miert orchard may have been infiltrated.

The Commissioner is bound to have made enemies with some of his rulings affecting mergers and state aids, and his officials are very secretive: when European Voice was researching Commissioners' vacation plans for our exciting Spot-the-Commissioner competition, no mention was made of the plum trees. Entre Nous astutely described Van Miert's people as “cagey” and now we know why.

Police have asked Commission officials to begin an urgent review of the competition supremo's workload for the past 12 months. They are looking for clues which might help trace any aggrieved party which could have been behind what has been dubbed the “plum tree affair”, possibly a business or corporation which might have hired professionals to seek revenge for a frozen venture or aid package.

Commission officials still insist that the plum tree tumble was nothing more than an unfortunate accident, but they concede it raises the most basic security questions. “This wouldn't have happened if Van Miert had been at work,” revealed one insider. This is partly because of the lack of plum trees in the Breydel, but also because, as one security expert put it, “any security chief worth his job would have spotted the danger and intervened before the Commission had reached the top of his stepladder”.

A separate police investigation is under way into the mysterious case surrounding Nico Wegter, spokesman for Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans Van Den Broek. Wegter broke his ankle while walking in Austria, in what has become known as the “broken ankle affair”. Officially, the blame is being laid at the door of “bad shoes”, but police fear Wegter's walking kit may have been got at, either in Austria or even before he left Brussels, by dissidents or others disaffected with EU policy.

“Anyone could have tampered with the laces and left them frayed and close to breaking point some time before or after Mr Wegter went to Austria,” agreed one desk officer involved in the inquiry.

Precisely why anyone would want to wage a vendetta against the much-respected, heavily-eyebrowed, long-serving senior official is not yet clear, although his loyalty to Van Den Broek may have made him a target for opponents of EU strategy in the former Yugoslavia.

“A threatened EU pull-out from Bosnia makes a vendetta a real possibility - and Van Den Broek may have been considered too difficult a target to hit at, particularly as he has no plum trees in his garden,” said a police detective.

That would make Wegter an obvious and easy target, as Commission spokesmen are bizarrely allowed out in public during the holidays without any supervision, despite the clear danger that they might talk to innocent bystanders about EU policy.

Another theory is that Wegter was mistaken for Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler, whose antics over mad cow disease have pushed him to the top of the list of Commission security worries.

“It is quite possible that renegade British farmers were deployed in Austria with a mission to harm Fischler over banned beef exports,” pontificated a source close to the Commissioner. “They could easily have muddled up the two men and unfortunately attacked the wrong one. Even more likely, they tampered with the wrong shoes.”

Commission officials nevertheless insist that Wegter's broken ankle was an accident and had no connection with Van Miert's broken arm. Police are also treating the breakages as separate incidents for the time being.

However, experts do admit that all security arrangements for off-duty personnel are under long-overdue review.

And if the two incidents were accidents, they want to ensure they cannot happen again by proscribing certain activities for Commissioners and their senior aides.

Plum picking and walking in Austria now obviously top the list, but insiders say they are determining to include other glaring examples of hazardous pastimes, such as going in the deep end of swimming pools, swinging in hammocks and trimming the hedge.

At the same time, EU finance officials are studying the impact on the Union budget of supplying personnel with 'minders' for the holidays to advise on safe tourist activities and, if necessary, to spot potential security weaknesses which terrorist groups could use to engineer 'accidents'.

A senior police chief commented: “It is quite possible we are seeing a concerted attack on Commissioners and their staff when they are most vulnerable - in the garden, on the windsurfer, at the poolside. We cannot ignore the message of one broken arm and one broken ankle.”

Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn, who returned from holiday unscathed, is believed to be working on new measures covering “health and safety in the holiday place”.

Insiders say proposals will include compulsory hard hats, elbow cushions and shin-pads when pottering around at home during non-work time and safety checks at designated control centres for all walking boots every two weeks during the hiking season.

Police have welcomed the plans, but warned: “Such measures are of course a useful step in the right direction, but they will not deter the determined attacker with a grievance against the Commission. It is up to every A-grade to remain on the alert, particularly at this recreational time of year.”