Petra Erler And Gunther Verhuegen Scandal
TIM notice 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?
Posted: 13th, September 2007 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
