Wizard-Giant meeting cancelled
19 August 2021
Rita Skeeter reports on fallout of 'disastrous' conference as Minister of Magic ruffles feathers in Paris
It had looked so promising, the Minister for Magic, Seamus Haupington, had touched down in Paris and was all set to meet his counterpart, the French Minister of Magic, to address the grievances of the Giant community in France. That the meeting was taking place at all with the participation of the giants was billed as a major breakthrough in one of the most problematic relationships between wizards and a sentient magical species in Europe.
But at the eleventh hour the meeting was cancelled and the Minister was left red-faced as the high profile effort to mediate between the French Ministry and the Giants spectacularly fell through at the first hurdle and the Giant delegation was seen tearing up the trees on the roads outside Paris presumably on their way back to their home in the Central Massif mountains.
So, how did it all go so wrong? Barely had the Minister hung up his broom at the Chateau des Gonfils, than the giants announced that they were pulling out of the conference.
The reason? A lack of trust in the new French Minister of Magic, Huigh Savon.
The arrangements for the meeting, and the signals from the French Minister were declared to be nothing short of disastrous by Haupington.
"The French Minister made not the slightest attempt to accommodate the sensitivities and cultural requirements of the Giants, and we are back at square one, thanks to the arrogance of the French."
Unsurprisingly, this blunt statement irritated the Andorrans, who run the French Ministry, and are touchy at the best of times. They claimed that the Giants had objected to the internationalisation of their issue rather than the Andorran handling of it.
Meanwhile, the French-Andorran Minister, Savon, told the Wizarding Chronicle of Paris that Haupington's remarks had done nothing to help reconciliation with the Giants, and the Minister from London "should mind his own business in future."
"We are not the only ones with a Giant problem," added the Minister. "The London Ministry should remember that Giants continue to live in separated and unregulated communties even in Britain, and their numbers are expanding all the time. The Andorran ministry had to clear up the evidence of trees pulled out by their roots but it is quite impossible to hide all traces of giant activity from Muggle eyes, if the Giants won't even try to conceal their presence!"
A Ministry spokeperson in London however dismissed this 'blame-shifting', insisting that the Giants had been ready to join the International Statute of Secrecy, until Huigh Savon had backtracked on his promise to erase all mention of real Giant abilities in French muggle fairytales.
With both Ministries blaming each other for the last minute breakdown, and the offended Giants refusing now to talk, the events yesterday were called a 'fiasco' by Sergeis Lefftomach, senior correspondent at the International Wizarding Times. Lord Belkis of Norfolk called for Haupington's resignation, "He should never have gone to Paris, and mixed the Ministry up in purely French affairs. It was an ill-thought out mission."
No doubt the calls for the Minister's resignation will grow louder after he flies back on his broom later this evening, to face more questions from the wizarding community on the gigantic failure of his wizard-giant summit.
It had looked so promising, the Minister for Magic, Seamus Haupington, had touched down in Paris and was all set to meet his counterpart, the French Minister of Magic, to address the grievances of the Giant community in France. That the meeting was taking place at all with the participation of the giants was billed as a major breakthrough in one of the most problematic relationships between wizards and a sentient magical species in Europe.
But at the eleventh hour the meeting was cancelled and the Minister was left red-faced as the high profile effort to mediate between the French Ministry and the Giants spectacularly fell through at the first hurdle and the Giant delegation was seen tearing up the trees on the roads outside Paris presumably on their way back to their home in the Central Massif mountains.
So, how did it all go so wrong? Barely had the Minister hung up his broom at the Chateau des Gonfils, than the giants announced that they were pulling out of the conference.
The reason? A lack of trust in the new French Minister of Magic, Huigh Savon.
The arrangements for the meeting, and the signals from the French Minister were declared to be nothing short of disastrous by Haupington.
"The French Minister made not the slightest attempt to accommodate the sensitivities and cultural requirements of the Giants, and we are back at square one, thanks to the arrogance of the French."
Unsurprisingly, this blunt statement irritated the Andorrans, who run the French Ministry, and are touchy at the best of times. They claimed that the Giants had objected to the internationalisation of their issue rather than the Andorran handling of it.
Meanwhile, the French-Andorran Minister, Savon, told the Wizarding Chronicle of Paris that Haupington's remarks had done nothing to help reconciliation with the Giants, and the Minister from London "should mind his own business in future."
"We are not the only ones with a Giant problem," added the Minister. "The London Ministry should remember that Giants continue to live in separated and unregulated communties even in Britain, and their numbers are expanding all the time. The Andorran ministry had to clear up the evidence of trees pulled out by their roots but it is quite impossible to hide all traces of giant activity from Muggle eyes, if the Giants won't even try to conceal their presence!"
A Ministry spokeperson in London however dismissed this 'blame-shifting', insisting that the Giants had been ready to join the International Statute of Secrecy, until Huigh Savon had backtracked on his promise to erase all mention of real Giant abilities in French muggle fairytales.
With both Ministries blaming each other for the last minute breakdown, and the offended Giants refusing now to talk, the events yesterday were called a 'fiasco' by Sergeis Lefftomach, senior correspondent at the International Wizarding Times. Lord Belkis of Norfolk called for Haupington's resignation, "He should never have gone to Paris, and mixed the Ministry up in purely French affairs. It was an ill-thought out mission."
No doubt the calls for the Minister's resignation will grow louder after he flies back on his broom later this evening, to face more questions from the wizarding community on the gigantic failure of his wizard-giant summit.
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