Merkel’s Italian Holiday Fans Europe’s North-South Crisis Flames
This article is for subscribers only.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s vacation in Italy threatened to inflame Europe’s north-south tensions after she was snapped in a bathing suit by paparazzi and challenged by a regional leader to heed the economic woes around her.
Merkel’s deputy spokesman, Georg Streiter, had to respond to reporters’ questions in Berlin yesterday about whether the chancellor had witnessed “anti-German” sentiment during her sojourn on the island of Ischia, and if she had felt insulted by the video message made by the Campania region governor. Saying she felt “very comfortable” on Ischia, Streiter made it clear Merkel was unhappy about being photographed without her consent.