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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>PM 'slights' EU president</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>Second last-minute cancellation of visit irks Europeans</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Observer Reporter
Thursday, October 26, 2006
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>SIMPSON MILLER. cancels second appointment due to 'family health emergency' </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller's last-minute cancellation of a second courtesy call on her by the president of the European Commission, Jamaica's biggest aid donor, has gone down badly in Brussels, highly placed Observer sources said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The European Union feels very slighted because it regards Jamaica as an important partner and the president was looking forward to meeting her," the source said.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=200 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>BARROSO. was looking forward to meeting with Jamaican prime minister</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Simpson Miller was set to meet the EU president, José Manuel Barroso today, as part of a planned visit to several European capitals, including Brussels. But at the 11th hour, Jamaica's ambassador to Brussels, Evadne Coye, notified Barroso's office by email that the prime minister was unable to keep the appointment, because of an unspecified "family health emergency".<P class=StoryText align=justify>Impeccably placed Observer sources said Barroso was not amused, especially because the prime minister had cancelled on him in May this year when they were scheduled to meet during a summit of heads of Governments from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean in Vienna, Austria.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The summit is convened every two years and is the major event bringing the region and its most significant development partner together.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica's foreign minister Anthony Hylton represented Simpson Miller at that summit, which was also attended by the likes of French President Jacques Chirac; Britain's Tony Blair; Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur; Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo and Grenada's Keith Mitchell, among other leaders.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The president did not even get the opportunity to commiserate with her on the family emergency, given the way the message was delivered. A personal call by the prime minister would have been more in keeping with the occasion," the source said of the latest cancellation.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Phone calls by the Observer to Hylton and the prime minister's press secretary were not immediately returned. Efforts to contact the local European Delegation for comment also proved futile.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica gets the bulk of its development aid from the European Union - an estimated euro535 million (approximately J$44.4 billion) in the past 31 years since the island became a signatory to the Lome Convention, the trade and aid pact linking Europe and its former colonies in the African, Caribbean and Pacific states.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The prime minister's visit was expected to deepen the relationship between Europe and Jamaica, which receives assistance from several big ticket projects benefiting the Northcoast Highway, private sector development, rural water supply, poverty reduction and human rights.
<SPAN class=Subheadline>Second last-minute cancellation of visit irks Europeans</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Observer Reporter
Thursday, October 26, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=234 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>SIMPSON MILLER. cancels second appointment due to 'family health emergency' </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller's last-minute cancellation of a second courtesy call on her by the president of the European Commission, Jamaica's biggest aid donor, has gone down badly in Brussels, highly placed Observer sources said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The European Union feels very slighted because it regards Jamaica as an important partner and the president was looking forward to meeting her," the source said.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=200 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>BARROSO. was looking forward to meeting with Jamaican prime minister</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Simpson Miller was set to meet the EU president, José Manuel Barroso today, as part of a planned visit to several European capitals, including Brussels. But at the 11th hour, Jamaica's ambassador to Brussels, Evadne Coye, notified Barroso's office by email that the prime minister was unable to keep the appointment, because of an unspecified "family health emergency".<P class=StoryText align=justify>Impeccably placed Observer sources said Barroso was not amused, especially because the prime minister had cancelled on him in May this year when they were scheduled to meet during a summit of heads of Governments from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean in Vienna, Austria.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The summit is convened every two years and is the major event bringing the region and its most significant development partner together.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica's foreign minister Anthony Hylton represented Simpson Miller at that summit, which was also attended by the likes of French President Jacques Chirac; Britain's Tony Blair; Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur; Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo and Grenada's Keith Mitchell, among other leaders.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The president did not even get the opportunity to commiserate with her on the family emergency, given the way the message was delivered. A personal call by the prime minister would have been more in keeping with the occasion," the source said of the latest cancellation.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Phone calls by the Observer to Hylton and the prime minister's press secretary were not immediately returned. Efforts to contact the local European Delegation for comment also proved futile.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica gets the bulk of its development aid from the European Union - an estimated euro535 million (approximately J$44.4 billion) in the past 31 years since the island became a signatory to the Lome Convention, the trade and aid pact linking Europe and its former colonies in the African, Caribbean and Pacific states.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The prime minister's visit was expected to deepen the relationship between Europe and Jamaica, which receives assistance from several big ticket projects benefiting the Northcoast Highway, private sector development, rural water supply, poverty reduction and human rights.
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