A cross-political party group of 150 members of the EU parliament asked EU Energy Commissioner Minister Günther Oettinger either to apologize or to resign over his proposal to German BILD news paper that “debt sinners should fly their flags at half mast in front of the EU buildings.”. The MEPs sent a letter to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso yesterday and complained about Oettinger’s proposals asking that the German commissioner should retract his words or resign. Mostly Socialist MEPs found these comments provocative and wrote to Barroso:
“To suggest humiliating indebted member states as a solution to the crisis runs against European values. The Commission must take sanctions. Any true pro-European is proud to see all our flags flying side by side, ‘united in diversity’, in times good or bad. Someone who proposes to do otherwise shows to have failed at understanding what the European ideal is about, and is unfit to be a European commissioner. Mr Oettinger should retract and recant his words, or resign from the European Commission.” (source: Europolitics.info)
After the letter was sent, Commissioner Gunther Oettinger denied the flag comment and claimed that he “did not propose nor support” a proposal to fly the flags of “deficit sinners” at half mast and declined an apology.
I though that as Oettinger is notorious for his English, he may have difficulties to understand what the MEPs asked him to do, as you will see in the video below
Video: Oettinger’s speech in English with … English subtitles
However, it’s not a language problem but a matter of mentality and “pssssiechologie”. Then according to Europolitics:
“The idea regarding the flag is an unconventional one and, I would admit, probably misleading,” Oettinger was reported as having said by his spokesperson. “However, in the interview [with the German paper Bild] I did not propose this idea nor did I support it. Moreover, I did not refer to any particular country.” The spokesperson was rather vague as to who had the idea and who came up with it. “This whole issue of the flag came up in a conversation,” said the spokesperson. Oettinger “referred to existing ideas”.
An EU executive spokesperson said Barroso would respond to the letter “as soon as possible”.
Rui Tavares (Greens-EFA, Portugal), organiser of the initiative, blasted Oettinger’s comments as “unacceptable”. “The statement is inherently anti-European and undermines attempts to bolster European solidarity in the face of the current crisis,” he added. “Coming from a European commissioner, such a glib statement cannot simply be glossed over.”
On September 9, KTG read Oettinger’s interview in the original text in German as it was published by Bild Online edition. Read our article German EU Commissioner: Flags of Debt-Sinners at Half-Mast.
