Brussels, 12/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - A number of MEPs are to write to the European Commission this week to demand an apology, and even the resignation, of one of its members who proposed that, as a punishment, over-indebted countries should have their flags hung at half mast. On Friday, Günther Oettinger supported the idea of hanging the flags of deficit sinner countries at half mast outside EU buildings as a “deterrent”. The Commission immediately distanced itself from the suggestion, speaking of a harebrained proposal and indicating that the commissioner had spoken in a personal capacity.
“Proposing to humiliate indebted countries as a solution to the crisis runs counter to European values. The Commission must take action”, French MEP Marc Tarabella, one of those who signed the letter, said in a press release on Monday 12 September.
The letter will call for the commissioner's comments to be retracted, and for his “apologies and, if the commissioner no longer feels able to represent and respect all citizens, his resignation”, the press release goes on. This is not the first time that German Commissioner Oettinger, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat Union (CDU) has been at the centre of a storm. Recently he suggested sending retired European citizens to “train” the Greeks and improve the situation of the country. At the time of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, he spoke of “apocalypse” and called on Europeans to put their trust in God before being criticised for dramatising the situation. (L.C./transl.rt)