Different Voices

Date: 09/03/2000

• “If we don't say to our people we are serious and don't have a very clear set of common rules for all of us for enlargement, we shall have a rebellion against enlargement. If we don't do it well, we shall never do it.”

Commission President Romano Prodi insisting the interpretation placed on remarks he made last week, which were widely seen as implying a slowdown in the enlargement process, was wrong but stressing that the public needed to be reassured.

• “With the Internet revolution, we are on the verge of the most fundamental transformation since Henry Ford put society on wheels.” Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne in a speech on 'e-consumers' in Ireland.
• “When it comes to responding to human rights abuses, we need to be careful in throwing our economic weight around.” External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten arguing that the EU should avoid always resorting to negative threats rather than positive action.