DIFFERENT VOICES

Date: 21/03/1996

“There can be no question of mystery mongering in European policy. We're always open to discussion.”

German Minister of State Werner Hoyer rejecting charges that his government was being secretive about its goals for the Intergovernmental Conference.

“Whoever comes back after one or one-and-a-half years of negotiations with empty results and submits wrong or empty proposals to parliament must know we won't play the same game as with the Maastricht Treaty.”

German Social Democrat Party European Affairs spokeswoman Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul warning her party could reject any amendment to the Maastricht Treaty if it did not include a jobs package.

“It's an illusion because other countries are too tied up with their own domestic problems to show patience and attention towards whoever asks for discounts.” Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, a deputy director at the Bank of Italy, warning his country should be under no illusion that its EU partners might be willing to grant it special favours in the process of European integration.

“I do not want the European Union to get involved blindly in free trade agreements before the World Trade Organisation has proved its efficacy and the European pole itself has been reinforced.”

French President Jacques Chirac spelling out his opposition to a transatlantic free trade area.

“It can be, and I think this is not entirely improbable, that the currency union cannot start in 1999...but it will certainly not be because of us.”

Wolfgang Schäuble, parliamentary leader of Germany's Christian Democrats and the man tipped as the most likely successor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, on the prospects for economic and monetary union.

“The Euro should be the chosen anchor for those countries of the Community which do not, or do not yet, form part of the Euro area.”

Bundesbank President Hans Tietmeyer arguing that a modified European Montary System - EMS II - could regulate relations between countries inside and outside the single currency zone.

“We cannot afford the luxury of discussing the pros and cons. If EMU comes about and we are not prepared, we have a serious problem.”

Heinz-Joachim Neubürger, executive director of German engineering giant Siemens.