ACP-EU meeting abandoned after ministers banned

PRESIDENT of the European Parliament Pat Cox was last night caught in the middle of a row that led to the cancellation of a major meeting with politicians from some of the world’s poorest nations.

The fifth ACP-EU meeting of politicians from the European Parliament and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries was abandoned after two Zimbabwean ministers were banned from the Parliament building by Mr Cox and the leaders of all but one of the political parties.

Zimbabwe had dispatched the two senior ministers to the talks knowing both are on an EU list of people barred from EU countries in protest at human rights violations.