COMMENT'
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WHO PICKS UP THE BILL?
No one likes being held to ransom, least of all by French lorry drivers. But right now British international truck operators look like being hostages to fortune for quite some time. So what remedy would you prescribe? So far the soundbites have been flowing thick and fast. "The French government should be fined for breaching the spirit of the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty and just about every other EU treaty which enshrines the free movement of freight throughout the community."..."The European Parliament should vote to withhold all money currently being paid to French farmers until it pays compensation to victims of the strike.".. "Neil Kinnock should take the French government to the European Court". And by far the most popular: "The French government should send in the CRS to break up the barricades!" But as one radio journalist tartly pointed out to an MEP offering such sympathetic soundbites this week: "You don't really expect that to happen do you?" So what hope for a swift resolution? Sadly, leaving aside the unlikely scenario of employers reaching a quick agreement with the drivers, the only hope must be if the French man {and woman) "sur le Clapham autobus" are inconvenienced enough to put pressure on their own government to step in and bang a few heads together. But that, we suspect, is some way away. Meanwhile, given that the French are stalling on existing payments, why doesn't the British Government pay the compensation owed to UK truck operators and then simply deduct it from our Community contribution? When a certain female Prime Minister felt Britain was paying too much money to the EC she dug her heels in and handbagged the Commission. And, it must be said, she won the day. If the French won't pay the bill then send it to Brussels. Because right now strikebound British operators need money—not sympathy, and certainly not soundbites.