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UK SECTION |
The AEJ is active across the continent
of Europe. Please visit its website, www.aej.org,
and check AEJ Newsletters
for information about what it is doing for its members |
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On the 40th birthday of
the UK Section By Roger Broad |
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This year marks the
fortieth anniversary of the founding of the British Section of the
AEJ. Roger Broad, a founder
member, recalls the birth In 1968 Britain’s second attempt to join the
European Community had failed. But les événements
in France that summer suggested that de Gaulle’s time was drawing
to a close and the way might soon be free for a successful new bid for
membership. So it proved. At the time I was the European Commission’s press
officer in London, and that autumn I attended a seminar on European affairs
organised by the Federal Trust. There I met Günter Wagenlehner, a German
journalist, who said that the annual congress of the Association of European
Journalists was to be held shortly and that he would like to see some
journalists from Britain there. Later, at very short notice, I was asked if I
could bring three journalists over to Bad Hoennigen, near Bonn, early in
December for the Congress. Paul Hodgson, then with Panorama at the
BBC, Maurice Woods, London Editor of the Eastern Daily Press, and Stephen Hugh-Jones of The
Economist were able to come. The Rhineland was extremely cold and we were scattered
round different small hotels in the small spa town. We also had our first
taste of the characteristic displays of rival temperament that tend to mark
such gatherings of European journalists from many different nations. We four
Britons were admitted as individual members and it was suggested that we
should form a British Section. In Bad Hoennigen we also met Ezio Bacino, an Italian
journalist living in London. Early in the New Year we met up, together with a
couple of other potential members. We decided to form a luncheon club for
meetings with movers and shakers from the political world and others with
something of interest to say about Europe. Our first guest was Ted Heath,
then Leader of the Opposition, who brought along his political assistant, one
Douglas Hurd. |
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Since then the UK Section has had its ups and downs but on
the whole it has thrived The peak of our youthful vigour was probably reached
in the early 1970s, when British membership of the Community was a burning
political issue. At that time our Section's membership reached something like
70, which meant that we regularly attracted some 30 members around the table
for the lunch meetings. For many years our meetings were held at the St
Ermin’s Hotel in London. The UK Section was founded on the basic principles of
political and economic independence. The succeeding years saw AEJ congresses
in Bordeaux, Luxembourg, Rome and, in 1971, Bristol – with a final
session and a glittering reception in Carlton House in London, hosted by Ted
Heath, who was by then Prime Minister. It was another 20 years before we
gathered the energy and funds to organise another. At the AEJ’s London Congress in 1992, we housed most
of the delegates at the St Ermin’s Hotel, with the formal meetings
being held in the QEII conference centre. The event was a resounding success. Paul Hodgson served several years as International
Chairman. At home Maurice Woods was our first chairman, with myself as
secretary and treasurer until the mid-1970s, when I felt my own position
with the Commission and later the Parliament risked the Section being seen as
a Brussels satellite. Don Hatwell took over at first. In later years, as many
members well remember, Kevin d’Arcy took over for the running of the
Section for an extended time, with Paul Hodgson fils as Chairman.
Happily, the Section now finds itself once more in good heart, with a healthy
membership of more than 40. Some older companions have inevitably fallen by
the wayside down the years or died. There is plenty of enthusiasm among members now for the
Section to mark its 40th birthday towards the end of this year in some
special way. The best present of all, I venture to say, would be to have a
Prime Minister today with the same kind of enthusiasm and regard for the
AEJ’s activities and role as Ted Heath showed in the years of our
infancy. |
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