Barcelona, 15/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - On the fringe of the Barcelona Summit, European Commission President Romano Prodi had bilateral meetings with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Romano Prodi dined Thursday evening with Gerhard Schroeder in a Barcelona restaurant, and together they spoke of several sensitive issues, like that of takeover bids and ad to the coal industry, says the Commission spokesman Jonathan Faull. Regarding the recent criticisms levelled by the German Chancellor at the European commission, the spokesman recalled that the Commission was not shocked by these criticisms, ands that Schroeder repeated, in Barcelona, that Germany wanted a strong and independent Commission.
With Tony Blair, whom he met at breakfast Friday morning, Prodi essentially raised the question of the French embargo on the import of British beef. Community law has to be respected, Mr. Prodi stressed, on that occasion, while acknowledging the fact that there was little hope of the French embargo being lifted quickly. We only received the letter from the French minister yesterday, Mr. Prodi remarked. According to British sources, if France does not respect the ruling of the Court of Justice "there will be a fight".