Brussels, 18/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - Making no attempt to hide his frustration at the restrictions brought in the wake of the visit to Brussels by President Bush, the President of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, told reporters on Thursday after the ECOFIN Council that it 'pissed him off'. The Luxembourg prime minister and finance minister was highly critical of the problems in finding a good place to organise a press conference or pick up a knife or a fork without an institution being offended. He said that if being ridiculous killed, Brussels would be full of corpses.
Next week, President Bush will first be meeting heads of state and government in the Council building, and then all the College of Commissioners in the Berlaymont which will be emptied of its almost 2000 officials on the occasion for security reasons.