Germany’s EU commissioner Guenther Oettinger (inset) has denied suggesting that the flags of “deficit sinners” should fly at half-mast and said he was merely referring to a notion he heard of in the office of a German tabloid.
Mr Oettinger’s remarks, in an interview with the mass circulation paper Bild, have drawn the ire of Irish and Portuguese MEPs, who have derided them as “daft” and a “humiliation” for countries with excessive deficits.
There wasn’t a hint of regret yesterday when his spokeswoman was asked if the commissioner, who holds the energy portfolio, was minded to retract his remarks as demanded by a group of Irish MEPs. However, she said the idea was not his.
“We had been in Berlin. It was a discussion we had with the chief editor of the Bild and with a journalist and then there was this interview made out of it,” she said.
The flags issue was in the background of a discussion on the Greek situation “and the ideas on the table and that’s how it came about,” she added.
The paper quoted Mr Oettinger’s reference to “deficit sinners” who needed “unconventional” treatment to help them mend their ways, possibly through officials appointed by Brussels and imposed on errant countries.
“There has been the suggestion too of flying the flags of deficit sinners at half-mast in front of EU buildings. It would just be a symbol, but would still be a big deterrent,” he was quoted as saying.
The commissioner’s spokeswoman read a statement from the commissioner in which he said he had “hinted” at some ideas to tackle the debt crisis.
“Some of them may be more meaningful than others. The idea regarding the flags is an unconventional one and, I would admit, probably misleading. However, in the interview I did not propose this idea nor did I support it,” the statement said.
“Moreover, I did not refer to any particular country. In a difficult economic and budgetary situation that we are currently facing, serious efforts are required on all sides. This is the view of the European Commission, which I support.”
Asked how it had come about that Mr Oettinger made such remarks, the spokeswoman said “it just came out”.
“You know how discussions and how conversations develop. People throw in ideas and then you say ‘yes I heard about it’ and see there is a point or see there is no point,” she said.
“ I repeat that he did not present it as his personal idea, he did not propose it to the European Commission that was not his intention.”
The commission distanced itself from Mr Oettinger’s remarks. “It goes without saying that neither president Barroso nor the European Commission in general support such ideas,” a spokesman told reporters.
