Warm reception for Santer’s handling of tough public session

Date: 16/11/1995

By Ole Ryborg

EUROPEAN Commission President Jacques Santer received rave reviews after his first question time session with ordinary members of the public.

The verdict from Danish newspapers was that Santer had done well as he fielded a series of tough questions during a public debate in Copenhagen this week.

Santer was subjected to a tough grilling on a wide range of issues during a question and answer session lasting for more than an hour at a public meeting organised to coincide with his visit to the headquarters of the European Environment Agency in the Danish capital.

Questions surrounding Danish Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard inevitably cropped up, with members of the audience anxious to know whether the recent controversy over her diaries could damage the chances of getting new EU environmental legislation adopted. Santer insisted it would not.

The decision to suspend senior Commission civil servant Bernard Connolly over the publication of his book about economic and monetary union also provoked tough questions.

Why was the Commission so afraid to debate the advantages and disadvantages of monetary union and what would happen to Mr Connolly, members of the audience wanted to know.

Santer replied that Connolly was paid quite a lot of taxpayers' money to be a loyal EU civil servant and not to stab the Union in the back.

The Commission president also used the occasion to try to allay Danish fears about the EU, insisting that the Union was not a melting pot where everything was to be harmonised.

But although Santer was quick to stress that the Commission was concerned and willing to listen to Eurosceptics' voices, he made it clear it was nevertheless determined to press ahead with the reforms needed to pave the way for the next round of enlargement.