US makes no claims to Euro-knowledge

Date: 12/04/01

Fraser Cameron of the Union executive's Washington office recently discovered just how little some Americans know about affairs on this side of the Atlantic.

En route to Austin, Texas, shortly before the US presidential election, a Republican lawyer asked Cameron where he worked. When Cameron answered the European Union, the lawyer asked whether that was some kind of insurance company.

As a matter of fact, Cameron said, his employer had quite an impressive record in that field. “We have 15 very big clients, and we hope to double that amount in the next few years,” he said.