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September 13, 2007
Petra Erler and Gunther Verhuegen
The Petra Erler and Gunther Verhuegen story gets another airing in The Times this morning. Apparently Bunte magazine in Germany is going to go with the story in their issue today in Germany. All sorts of political ramifications apparently.
Ms Fuchs says that the commissioner confessed that he was having an affair with Ms Erler in January 2006. “And he then admitted that the relationship with Ms Erler had been going on since the spring of 2005. He was sorry about it, and didn’t know what had got into him,” she says.
In April 2006 Ms Erler was promoted from being a member of his advisory team to become his chief of staff. The promotion of a lover would be a violation of Commission guidelines.
Mrs Verheugen announced last week, also through the columns of Bunte, that she had separated from her husband and was consulting lawyers.
“I can confirm that I have talked at length with Frau Verheugen about these matters,” Ms Fuchs told The Times. Mrs Verheugen was not available for comment.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has intervened personally with Mr Barroso to back up the beleaguered German representative, according to senior EC sources.
Her fear is that the forced resignation of Mr Verheugen, a Social Democrat, would create a chain reaction in the German Government, which is a coalition of her Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, that could lead its eventual break-up.
One little interesting fact that isn't reported today but was left as a comment on an earlier post of mine about Petra Erler.
Interestingly enough, Ms Erhler is the most senior former East German Communist apparatchik in the European Institutions and was formerly Frau Merkle's boss.
Isn't that interesting?
September 13, 2007 in Sex | Permalink
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Comments
"Interesting?"
Fascinating.
I don't recall that the EU Commission ever did get to the bottom of the notorious Eurostat scandal which emerged to the light of day four years ago, in the summer of 2003. This report from then on the BBC website may help to jog some memories:
"As European Commission President Romano Prodi faces questions over financial irregularities at the statistics agency Eurostat, BBC News Online explains the details of the scandal. . . Eurostat is accused of using a double accounting system and siphoning off large amounts of money into secret bank accounts outside the scrutiny of auditors. Investigators discovered that the value of some contracts issued by Eurostat was artificially increased and others did not exist at all. . "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3138390.stm
I suppose that if that investigation continues for long enough then most folks will have forgotten all about it.
OTOH Commissioner Verheugen's perennial problem is that he makes highly controversial comments, such as this in 2004:
"The incoming European commissioner for industry has rejected suggestions that lower taxes in new member states will lead to job losses in western Europe."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3705032.stm
We can only imagine how well that went down with all those who regard any talk about tax cuts in the EU as an anathema and weave the spin about "the race to the bottom".
Oh Paul Van Buitenen, where are you now?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Van_Buitenen
Try this from the FT in March this year:
"Is fraud endemic in the European institutions? You might think so, reading the coverage of the revelations that three Italians have been arrested in a multi-milllion euro case involving bribery and forgery involving public tenders for EU buildings overseas."
http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2007/03/fraud_in_brusse.html
Posted by: Bob B | Sep 13, 2007 10:31:37 AM
The true strangeness of this story is certainly the average German's acceptance of absolutely anything a politician tells them. The man is photographed buck naked and holding hands with his staff member (insert own member joke here, sometimes its just TOO easy)and he claims they are just collegues and friends and the Germans say, "whew I'm glad he cleared that up"
Personlly I stopped following this story in papers as the Bild was threatening to publish the naked shots and, as Herr Verheugen is, without a doubt, the ugliest person on this planet and his squeeze comes in a close second (his wife must look like a Yeti)I was a bit afraid of being scarred for life
selah
Posted by: david | Sep 13, 2007 11:52:12 AM
