Have bus, will travel

Date: 14/12/1995

Nothing, not even the worst national strike in recent French history, must be allowed to come between Euro MPs and the Strasbourg Parliament.

Thus it was that as politicians, journalists, diplomats and Euro-officials prepared to travel to Strasbourg for the last plenary of 1995, frantic efforts were under way to smooth their path and avoid playing into the hands of the 'move-the-whole-thing-to-Brussels' lobby.

Convoys of buses were organised by both the Parliament and the Commission to ferry everyone via Luxembourg if necessary. French European Affairs Minister Michel Barnier wrote to Parliament President Klaus Hänsch last week promising that all would be well. So impressed was Hänsch that he read out the letter at a bureau meeting a few days before the session.

But beating strikes is not everyone's cup of tea in Euro-circles. As one EU official put it: “I wonder if the unions have a different view?”