Most EU leaders stay away from Olympic ceremony PHILIPPA RUNNER Today @ 09:10 CET EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Just nine European Union leaders plan to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing on Friday (8 August), where France will officially represent the EU. Most member states are keeping a low profile instead, with a handful boycotting the festivities over China’s human rights record. (…) The presidents of France, Slovakia, Latvia, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, the prime ministers of the Netherlands and Finland and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg will watch alongside 70 or so other world leaders as 15,000 Chinese performers enact a three and a half hour-long spectacle starting at 8.08pm Beijing time (2.08pm CET).
- EUobserver
- Weblog Staatssecretaris Jet Bussemaker (blogt vanuit Beijing).