No easy exit
The European Union’s transport and finance ministers are struggling to find a way out of the fuel crisis
CLEARLY Jean-Claude Gayssot, France's minister of transport, is a prudent politician. Lest he and his 14 European Union counterparts be held hostage by the street blockades of angry lorry drivers, an emergency meeting called by France, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, to discuss high fuel prices was this week switched from Brussels to Luxembourg. Perhaps, too, Mr Gayssot, a Communist in the Socialist-led coalition of Lionel Jospin, has a sense of humour: Luxembourg has the EU's lowest petrol-pump prices after Spain and Greece. But does he, or any other minister, have a convincing idea of how to resolve their collective crisis?
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “No easy exit”
From the September 23rd 2000 edition
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