How American diplomatic agents consider German politicians, Part IV: Günther Oettinger

How American diplomatic agents consider German politicians, Part IV: Günther Oettinger

One year ago, Günther Oettinger was maybe for the majority of German citizens a nameless and unknown person. But since he became European Commissioner for Energy in the European Commission on February 10, 2010 (appointed by Chancellor Merkel), he has been one of the best-known politicians in the Comission. Before he became European Commissioner for Energy, he’d been Minister-President of the state of Baden-Württemberg between the years 2005 and 2010.

The reason why he received such a famous status is an interview with a German journalist 4 days ago on February 6, 2010. Oettinger argued that it is absolutely necessary that every German employee should be capable of speaking and understanding English, regardless if you are a factory employee or an important business manager. This interview would not have been so disastrous and embarrassing for him, if he had had the ability to pronounce correctly English words during his lecture. See his lecture in which he tried to give general information about political and economic issues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWB5oyIjSF0

But how does the American embassy consider Günther Oettinger? Naturally, the American cables also revealed certain information about his status, his abilities and personality.

In general, the American embassy strongly criticized the European Commissioner for Energy, because he increasingly lost the assistance of the majority of members of the CDU so that Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) was forced to dispose him in order to maintain the required majority in German state Baden-Württemberg. In this context, the American cable revealed that the “purpose of the nomination was to remove an unloved lame duck from an important CDU bastion”. A further important aspect which characterizes his abilities concerning his job is that he has a weakness in delivering a speech.

When I regard these aspects which are only a part of the American cables, my first impression was confirmed, because in my opinion Günther Oettinger is not a serious politician after having seen the video on YouTube. I was shocked when I heard him speaking to his audience with subtitles which should show the real expressions. On the one hand, it was extremely funny to observe that even politicians cannot pronounce simple English words like activity or justification, but on the other hand I have to apologize for him, because he represents our country which cast a damning light on Germany.

All in all, I can absolutely comprehend why American embassy considers him as an incompetent and feckless politician.Written by Leaker1

Other sources:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,731645-4,00.html

http://www.bild.de/BILD/digital/internet/2010/01/27/youtube-video-oettinger-englisch-falsch.html

Written by Leaker1