Question touches raw nerve…

Date: 17/10/1996

...Talking of which, Industry Commissioner Martin Bangemann clammed up pretty tightly the other day when a German journalist broke ranks at a news conference on competitivity to ask whether the industrial affairs boss had been pressed by Commission President Jacques Santer to roll up his sleeves a bit more often and get stuck into the job.

Bangemann took on the aspect of a newly-erupting volcano. The question was rubbish, he said, and then apologised to the other journalists present for their colleague's impertinence.

“I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but we have been discussing the British problem (over the single currency) and others. This is a typical German problem. I apologise for that, have a nice day,” he said and then left the room.

The following day, after complaints from thin-skinned journos about Bangemann's behaviour, chief spokesman Klaus van der Pas did some trouble-shooting, insisting that Bangemann was almost always at Commission meetings.

“I would also add, very objectively, that Mr Bangemann is there participating very actively in the work.”

Just to be on the safe side, perhaps that reinforced rule about not speaking to reporters should be extended to Commissioners.