Brussels, 25/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - British Conservative Chris Heaton-Harris decided, after a visit to Charleroi accompanied by the Head of Safety and Security of the Nottingham Forest Club, Mike Holford, to continue his campaign against the organisation, in the context of Euro 2000 football, for the England-Germany match at the Charleroi stadium in Belgium. After the visit to the stadium and to the town, Mr Heaton-Harris declares he is more determined than ever to fight for the transfer of this match elsewhere. With the support of Mr Holford, who founded the "Football Safety Association" in the United Kingdom, he states that the match is quite simply impractical in Charleroi. Even if there are not several thousand supporters who go there without tickets, one can expect serious problems. He added: "I don't think I am being overly dramatic when I estimate that up to 30,000 fans may come to Charleroi without a ticket. On top of the 30,000 that do have tickets, Charleroi simply won't be able to cope. The streets are too small to accommodate that volume of people, whilst still allowing access for emergency vehicles".
Mr Heaton-Harris launched the campaign last week during the plenary session but the European Parliament had refused to follow him (see EUROPE of 20 May, p.16).