Jeroen Dijsselbloem has been invited to a European parliament session on April 4th but, fearing severe criticism to his “beer and women” comments about southern European nations’ use of Community funds, has said he is busy that day.
There is increasing pressure for Dijsselbloem to resign after his controversial statements about the Southern countries and the invitation to parliament by MEPs was answered with "Thank you for the invitation, unfortunately I am no longer available on that date."
MEPs wanted to confront Dijsselbloem, the President of the Eurogroup of EU member countries, with his statements and hammer home the many subsequent requests for him to resign.
The President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, has condemned the "unacceptable comments" saying they were loaded with "prejudices and stereotypes."
The controversy erupted last week after Dijsselbloem said in an interview with a German newspaper that "I can not spend my money in beer and women and then ask for more help," referring to the southern European members’ use of European funds.
The former Dutch minister refused to retract his comments but later "regretted" the misinterpretation of his statements which he attributed to Dutch bluntness. "My observation is severe, it comes from an austere Dutch Calvinist culture," he said, as if this was some sort of valid excuse.
António Costa, Portugal's prime minister, was among the first to demand the removal of the President of the Eurogroup, with the European Socialists also feeling that Dijsselbloem would have to resign.
Despite mounting pressure, Dijsselbloem has reiterated that he does not intend to resign and has shown his readiness to remain at the head of the Eurogroup until the end of his mandate, scheduled for January 2018.
However, his underlying arrogance, spitefullness (and now cowardice,) has marked him down as a politician not trusted to bring any sort of balance and good sense to his current role.
