Friday

2nd Jun 2023

Commission makes no judgement in China race row

  • "We have to listen to what Guenther Oettinger has to say," the commission's spokesman said. (Photo: European Commission)

The European Commission declined on Monday (31 October) to comment on declarations by commissioner Guether Oettinger that were considered as offensive to China and Wallonia.

The EU executive spokesman Margaritis Schinas told journalists that Oettinger gave "detailed information" about the incident in an interview to German daily Die Welt and that the institutions had "nothing to add".

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Oettinger, the German member of the commission, was filmed at a meeting with business people in Hamburg last week using a German equivalent of "slant eyes" to refer to Chinese people.

He also joked about members of a Chinese delegation in Brussels who had their hair "combed from left to right with black shoe polish”.

The commissioner told Die Welt that the video has been edited and his words taken out of context. He admitted “a somewhat sloppy statement" but said it was "in no way meant disrespectfully towards China”.

Schinas said he would "refrain from any characterisation or value judgement that one can make on the explanations" given by Oettinger.

"We have to listen to what Guenther Oettinger has to say," he said. 

He added that the commission's president, Jean-Claude Juncker, did not ask his commissioner for explanations because he was "100 percent busy with Ceta", the EU-Canada trade deal that was signed on Sunday.

He also said that no further question would be asked because "we don't have an FBI at the commission to investigate commissioners".

Oettinger was also reported as saying that Wallonia, the Belgian region that delayed the signing of the EU-Canada trade agreement, was “a micro-region run by communists that blocks all Europe”.

But that comment is not on the video and Schinas explained that there should be a distinction between what is really said and what is reportedly said.

"Wallonia is governed by its democratically elected leaders," he said when asked who were the communists mentioned by Oettinger. Wallonia minister-president Paul Magnette is a Social-Democrat.

He insisted that the commission had "the highest respect for all Europe's regions that are primordial for Europe's competitiveness and cohesion".

On Sunday, Juncker had himself taken a jab at Walloon leaders. He said "the commission's interlocutor is not the Walloon region, but the federal Belgian government", adding: “Belgians should think pretty carefully about how it works in the context of international trade negotiations.”

The controversy over Oettinger's remarks comes as he is about to be promoted vice-president of the commission, in charge of budget, to replace Kristalina Georgieva who is taking a job at the World Bank.

Oettinger was due to go to Greece on Monday, but the visit was cancelled, due to "unexpected commitments", Schinas said while refusing to say what kind of commitment.

Oettinger apologises over China insults

The future commission vice-president admitted in a statement that his words "have created bad feelings and may even have hurt people".

Opinion

EU's weird uncle spoils the party

Oettinger's China gaffe caught the headlines, but his and his colleagues' broader disregard for European values pose a bigger threat to EU legitimacy.

Oettinger left no trace of VW Dieselgate meeting

EU commissioner for the digital economy and society, Guenther Oettinger, met with German carmakers in January to discuss "diesel emissions", even though the topic is not in his portfolio.

Column

What a Spanish novelist can teach us about communality

In a world where cultural clashes and sectarianism seems to be on the increase, Spanish novelist Javier Cercas (b.1962) takes the opposite approach. He cherishes both life in the big city and in the countryside.

Opinion

Poland and Hungary's ugly divorce over Ukraine

What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.

Latest News

  1. EU data protection chief launches Frontex investigation
  2. Madrid steps up bid to host EU anti-money laundering hub
  3. How EU leaders should deal with Chinese government repression
  4. MEPs pile on pressure for EU to delay Hungary's presidency
  5. IEA: World 'comfortably' on track for renewables target
  6. Europe's TV union wooing Lavrov for splashy interview
  7. ECB: eurozone home prices could see 'disorderly' fall
  8. Adapting to Southern Europe's 'new normal' — from droughts to floods

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us