More equal than others

Date: 10/09/1998

The Austrian presidency of the EU has already had its first taste of George Orwell's adage: “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.”

As the government crisis in Russia deepened last week, Vienna was terribly keen to issue a statement on behalf of the Union to follow up on declarations from the European Commission.

But the failure of some member states to agree the wording meant that the text was not released until the weekend.

“Austria just doesn't have the power to put it out,” said one surprisingly honest Viennese observer.

“If it had been the Germans or the French or the Brits, then they would just have released it.”