As simple as ABD

Date: 23/01/1997

We know that the Commission is terribly sensitive about the F-word (federal, of course), but has this touchiness become so great that any reference whatever to the letter F has been banned inside the Breydel?

There can be no other explanation for the fact that leading environmental groups outlined six key points they want Commission President Jacques Santer to tackle in the coming months and labelled them A, B, C, D, E, and G.

For the record, points A to E concerned the 'greening' of the agriculture and cohesion funds, the EU's role in climate pro-tection, the Intergovernmental Conference, the role of the environment in employment and the establishment of a 'presidential council for sustainability'.

G was a demand for new initiatives from Santer himself.

Unless there was confusion over the order of the alphabet, we can only assume the greens have got a hidden agenda.