Giscard will not be Penelope's suitor
By Honor Mahony
Poor Penelope! In Greek mythology she is the wife of Ulysses. While he goes off to fight in the Trojan war, she waits for him for 20 years not knowing whether he is alive or dead. In the meantime she gets wooed by a barrage of unwanted suitors and works on her eternal tapestry.
Penelope is also the name of Romano Prodi’s hugely ambitious secret constitution submitted in a half-hearted manner to the Convention on Wednesday last week and not approved by his fellow commissioners.
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The way it was submitted, its contents but above all its name allowed Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Convention president, to be perfectly derisory about it.
"I love Penelope," he said on Friday after the finish of the Convention plenary session. "It’s a very nice story but Penelope did not hide herself … she said: 'I’m waiting for Ulysses'." And just to make sure it was clear that this was not a text for consideration he said, referring to the fact that other Commissioners were not happy with Mr Prodi’s constitution, "This document has been repudiated, something which Ulysses never did."
The Commission put in its place
He went on to ask: "Who is Penelope waiting for? – The Convention? The Convention will arrive," said Mr Giscard making it perfectly clear that the Convention’s end work on the constitution is the only one that counts.
The approved official text from the Commission did not escape his acerbic tongue either. While it may be a "useful" work, it is "too long," "not very easy to read" and "not very timely." The "Convention is having its own debate" while presumably Mr Prodi's texts gather dust in the Presidium.