New twist in Ritt diary drama as public clamours for more

Date: 02/11/1995

It's not over yet.

In the lastest twist of the saga, Ritt Bjerregaard is demanding compensation from a prominent Danish newspaper which printed details of her diary of the daily doings of ordinary Commissioner folk.

By the time the Environment Commissioner bowed to inside pressure and ordered her publisher to scrap the keenly-awaited book, she had already ensured that review copies were in the hands of all the major national papers in Denmark.

The widely-respected Politiken seized the opportunity and virtually tripled its circulation when it hit the streets with the Ritt 'revelations' prominently displayed.

Students were selling the paper on the streets for up to 200 Danish krone - 20 times the normal cover price - until extra print runs helped supply meet demand.

Now, having survived her decision to write the book and successfully ducked questions about who would receive the royalties, Ritt is heading for fresh trouble over her demand for compensation from Politiken for publishing the book after it had been officially withdrawn from the market.

The question now is who gets the money if Politiken pays up? Surely the Commissioner herself will turn it down, having been reminded by President Jacques Santer that paid outside work is forbidden by the Treaty of Rome? On the other hand, perhaps the cash would not count as outside income but as 'damages', beyond the scope of the treaty. Commission legal eagles are probing the problem.

Meanwhile, the diaries have also been made available on the Internet (www.cybercity.dk/bjerregaard if you're still interested), but attention is already turning to future episodes. In particular the world is waiting to read her account of the verbal exchanges with President Santer when he informed her in no uncertain terms to scrap the book or risk her job. Presumably Ritt's impression of the meeting will be in the next unpublished instalment.