Series Title | European Voice |
---|---|
Series Details | 05/04/01, Volume 7, Number 14 |
Publication Date | 05/04/2001 |
Content Type | News |
Date: 05/04/01 The office of the Union's military staff is beginning to resemble a South American-style junta as it fills up with top-brass braid and medals. Its cramped headquarters in the Justus Lipsius building are officially home to a three-star general, the newly-appointed German Rainer Schuwirth and his two-star deputy, UK major-general Graham Messervy-Whiting. They are supported by five brigadier-generals. Finnish four-star general Gustav Hagglund, whose appointment as first chairman of the EU military committee is expected to be rubber-stamped soon by the Council of Ministers, will be a regular visitor. And countless colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants and other ranks will join the 140-strong staff. At least they will be moving into more spacious accommodation in June, when Lee Marvin-look-alike Schuwirth leads his troops to a new base in Avenue de Cortenbergh. But don't expect anyone - even the French - to say whether the Cortenbergh HQ will include a little room with a plate on the door reading 'EU Rapid Reaction Force Independent Planning cell'. Still on a military theme, the Brussels lobbying sector may not realise that it has a one-time Army major in its ranks. He's Australian, quietly-spoken and exudes a natural air of authority. Give up? Step forward John Russell, boss of Weber Shandwick public affairs and former EU affairs manager of the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham). A graduate of the Royal Military College in Duntroon, Russell spent more than a decade in the Aussie forces. As actor Michael Caine would say, not a lot of people know that. |
|
Subject Categories | Business and Industry |