From Edward McMillan-Scott, European Parliament vice-president
Q. The problem of the universal greeting has become an obsession. As you may imagine, the European Parliament is a meeting place for people from all the EU’s 27 countries to those from Asia, America and all the continents. So from Borat-style hugs, to Muslim delicacy about human contact, to Chinese codes of kowtow or Indian supplicant anjali, I am daily confronted by the need for a new encounter technique. Moreover, the risk of passing on diseases like H5N1 (and, for British visitors, MRSA) demands a new European etiquette. Can you help, Mary?
A. I understand some Euro MPs have discussed using the informal American right hand flipped up (the Native American ‘How!’), obviously falling short of its Hitlerian rigidity, but this will not wash. Today’s constant television presence means that whenever leaders are seen meeting in a public place they must pretend to be very, very effusive.
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