Tara Mulvany

What a stir the EU energy commissioner, Guenther Oettinger has created. There’s been a storm of angry reaction among bloggers, commentators, media, politicians and his EU colleagues following his suggestion that ‘deficit sinners’, the likes of us, should have their flags flown at half-mast outside EU buildings.

Minister Phil Hogan said his remarks were ‘not appropriate’ at a time when Irish people ‘are going through the difficult pain barrier of sacrificing a lot of their disposable income….’. MEP Mairead McGuinness, described his comments as ‘irresponsible and immature’ while Marian Harkin said they were ‘misguided at best, dangerous and incendiary’.

In a less guarded reaction, The Irish Daily Star gave Guenther the ‘star’ treatment with a tricolour middle finger on its front page, leaving him in no doubt as to where he could stick his opinion. But perhaps the most divisive of all has been the reaction from ordinary citizens. A stream of anti-German and ‘remember WW2’ comments immediately followed a report on the story on TheJournal.ie, which reflected the rising anger that the German Commissioner had managed to stir up in the Irish. So, while last week no one knew who the hell Guenther Oettinger was, this week he’s public enemy no.1.

But it turns out that Herr Oettinger is no stranger to ‘incendiary’ comments and indeed, he’s no stranger to insulting other great nations and great peoples. What’s more this isn’t the first time his resignation has been called for as a result of his loose tongue. In fact, a leaked diplomatic cable from the United States embassy described him as a ‘lame duck’ who is “noted for a lackluster public speaking style, and some commentators have asserted that Merkel, who has often stood out at EU meetings, wanted to appoint a German Commissioner who would not outshine her."

Alarmingly, comments that Oettinger made last March branding the nuclear crisis at Fukushima as ‘out of control’ caused the European markets to plunge and resulted in major criticism of his irresponsible language. He also caused controversy following a eulogy he made at the funeral of one of his political predecessors when he was accused by politicians and the media of playing down the significance of the Nazi dictatorship. The ‘incident’ also sparked heavy criticism from the Jewish Council and calls for his dismissal.

So, they say misery loves company and it seems we’re in good company here, Herr Oettinger! It’s certainly a pity though that the media reports on his remarks weren’t put in the context of his previous ‘loose’ and ‘reactionary’ comments as I, like many,  believe we have enough to be getting angry about in this country at the moment.