God, you gotta love Twitter. Just a few days ago, a Latvian Member of Parliament had to resign after praising the Nazis for getting rid of gays – and now, you get the French party leader of the far-left Parti de Gauche, Jean-Luc Melenchon, telling Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, to shut her mouth. Alright, the two are very different, but I like that politicians are being somewhat more honest on these little bite-sized internet exchanges, for better and for worse. Telling Merkel to shut up is far more sympathetic than praising the Nazis, that’s a distinction I’ll have to clarify. Of course, the comment didn’t leave Melenchon’s reputation unscathed. It was made in reference to Merkel’s recent suggestion to both France and Italy to tighten the budget-belts and make some progress in helping the Euro – to which an obviously irritated Melenchon told Merkel that France is Free, and she essentially should keep to her own business – that is to say, Germany’s own poverty and crumbling infrastructure. In detail, her statement read: “The commission (meaning the European one) has made clear that what has been put on the table so far is insufficient. I would agree with this.” Not exactly the most abrasive thing in the world, and with Germany’s economy being arguably the best one in the Euro zone, it isn’t like Merkel doesn’t have some form of authority on the matter of reminding fellow Euro bloc giants to work a bit harder to make sure the currency doesn’t crash. I mean, I don’t agree with European politics, but I’m a fairly radical idealist when it comes to monetary policy and borders and such things, so I’m not making a personal comment on that. I am, however, going to admit that as humorous as pissed off politicians may be, Melenchon did overreact. Deutsche Welle, a German news outlet, reported that Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Siebert said that, while Melenchon has the right to express himself, he could have picked “a friendlier formulation” for his concerns. The home turf wasn’t so polite. French Finance Minister Michel Spain straight up called Melenchon’s tweet “rude, insulting and stupid,” and said “Germany is in a better position now because of the reforms it did a decade ago.” - See more at: ift.tt/1unRlTS DatSyn News - French party leader tells Merkel to shut up
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 09:20:26 +0000