Nielson fury at paper slur

Date: 27/09/01

By John Shelley

POUL Nielson, development commissioner, has vigorously denied claims that he said United States foreign policy was in part to blame for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Nielson issued a statement on Tuesday (25 September) insisting he was "misinterpreted and taken out of context" in Danish newspaper Politiken.

It reported him as saying: "The bullying imperialism which both the EU and the United States have represented should be replaced with an understanding that other points of view also have value.

"There is no doubt that the bullying behaviour is one of the causes of the frustration and hatred towards the United States which prepared the soil for the terror attacks."

The article prompted German centre-right MEP Armin Laschet to demand that Commission President Romano Prodi dismiss Nielson, whose comments he said were "scandalous". Nielson's statement condemned the article, saying he had been talking about globalisation.

"I never said or implied that the US was somehow to blame for the awful terrorist attacks. As I said at the time, I am completely horrified by these cowardly acts and nothing can justify them. I fully agree with the need to react militarily and to eliminate the threat of terrorism. What I did say... was that the anti-globalisation movement had gathered strength from the perceived insensitivity of industrialised countries in advocating their own values."

Poul Nielson, Development Commissioner, has vigorously denied claims that he said United States foreign policy was in part to blame for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.