 EC COMMISSION TO VISIT BONN AT KOHL'S INVITATION
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has
invited the European Community's 17-man Commission for talks in
Bonn next month in a bid to repair strained relations, EC
diplomats said.
    The Commissioners, led by President Jacques Delors, will
pay a two-day visit to Bonn on April 1-2 when they were due for
a meeting with the principal West German cabinet members.
    The meeting, the first of its kind between the Commission
and the government of a member state, was originally meant to
focus on problems posed by West Germany's federal constitution.
    But they said the meeting was now likely to be dominated by
Commission plans to restructure the EC's exhausted finances and
its costly farm policy, which have provoked strong opposition
from Bonn.
    Kohl has written two letters to Delors, complaining that
the plans would hit West German farmers hard.  His farm
minister Ignaze Kiechle has publicly criticised the two German
members of the Commission for failing to oppose them.
    This caused protest from Brussels where the Commission
tries to guard the independence of its members from the
governments that nominate them.
 REUTER
