Danish film shows EU warts
Danish viewers get their chance on Tuesday to see a television film that could infuriate EU allies and has already caused tensions within the country's coalition government.
The fly-on-the-wall documentary was filmed in the tense weeks leading up to the Copenhagen summit last December, when the EU agreed to accept 10 new members in 2004.
It is reported to be highly embarrassing for German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, and to show the Russian and French presidents in a bad light.
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, who is shown accusing Mr Fischer of inconsistency on the question of Turkish EU membership, is also placed in an uncomfortable position.
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has faced criticism at home for committing what a former foreign minister has called "a diplomatic blunder of the highest order" by allowing the film to be aired without more cuts.
Openness
The Conservative Party, which Mr Moeller represents, has also been fuming about the decision by Mr Rasmussen, of the Liberal Party, to allow the film to be screened.
Mr Rasmussen has explained his actions by saying that he is committed to openness in government.
"The broadcast helps to ensure that the population gains knowledge of how political decisions are taken," said Liberal Party foreign policy spokesman, Troels Lund Poulsen.
The question of whether the EU should offer membership to Turkey was one of the most controversial on the EU's agenda when the film was being made.
"Did I tell you that Joschka Fischer had three different points of view in less than 12 hours on the question of Turkey's application?" Mr Moeller asks Mr Rasmussen.
"First he told me that Turkey would never be a member of the European Union, then that we needed some form of membership. And finally (he said): 'No, no forget about it, those were just ideas,'" Mr Moeller is shown saying.
Mr Rasmussen says: "There is not a complete match between what they (Germany) say in public, and their real attitude."
Breach of confidence
There was an outcry in the Turkish media, including a front-page article in the Hurriyet newspaper, after the film was shown on Swedish television earlier this month.
The German ambassador, Dr Rudolf Schmidt, went on television to deny that Germany had ever wavered in its support for Turkish EU membership.
In Berlin, a spokesman for Mr Fischer, answering questions from Turkish journalists, said the film's portrayal of the German position was "completely wrong".
The film is also said to show: Mr Rasmussen forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to take questions on Chechnya from hostile journalists against his will Footage of French President Jacques Chirac losing his cool in a discussion with Mr Rasmussen over EU farm subsidies
Other reports suggest that Poland, the Czech Republic and the US are also shown in a poor light.
A former government foreign policy adviser, Henning Gottlieb, told the Berlingske Tidende newspaper that the film breaches the confidence of Denmark's EU partners.
"Diplomatic work simply cannot take place in such openness," he said.
The paper says the Conservative Party is angry about the film, but has not asked for an official apology as this would lead to a government crisis.
Mr Moeller attempted to mollify Joschka Fischer at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on 14 April.
Afterwards he told journalists:"Yes, I have spoken to Fischer, but I have stopped reporting what Fischer says."
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Published: 2003/04/22 16:57:58
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