Coûteaux’s diplomacy cuts like a blunt knife

Date: 24/05/01

What with EU fears over America's proposed missile defence system and the US backing out of the Kyoto accord, relations between the two blocs are not currently at their warmest.

But at a discussion last week on transatlantic dialogue in the European Parliament MEPs did a good job of papering over the cracks, with speaker after speaker stressing the importance of closer cooperation.

Or at least they were until right-wing French MEP Paul Coûteaux chimed in with the kind of bluntness which could shatter even the most fixed of false smiles.

“The US is a nation built on a history of genocide and violence,” he said.

Memo to Monsieur Coûteaux: a closer look at Europe's history might reveal a pointlessly bloody conflict or two.