Agnelli’s language barrier

Date: 14/03/1996

Susanna Agnelli picked a strange way of resolving the EU's language problem when she spoke to journalists during last weekend's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Palermo.

Opening a suitably informal question and answer session, she told the throng: “Because this is not a press conference

I will speak in English. Tomorrow, when it is a press conference, I will speak in Italian.”

When one Italian journalist asked whether he could put his question in Italian, Agnelli thought for a second, then replied: “I understand Italian...” Agnelli also appeared to have trouble with the language when she was asked about the current tensions between China and Taiwan at her press conference. The Italian foreign minister was quick to condemn what she described as “Chinese terrorism”, but was equally quick to rephrase her condemnation to apply to “Chinese missiles” after a nudge from her political director.