EU digital commissioner Günther Oettinger is set to be promoted to the budgets portfolio at the European Commission, but left-wing MEPs have vowed to oppose his appointment.
The Commission announced on 28 October that Oettinger would step up to replace commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, the vice-president responsible for budget and human resources. Georgieva announced she will resign to become chief executive officer at the World Bank in January 2017.
Shortly after the announcement, a YouTube video emerged showing Oettinger giving a speech at an industry event in Hamburg on 26 October, saying that prior to the start of the recording Oettinger had referred to Asian people as “schlitzaugen” (“slotted eyes”). In the video Oettinger goes on to mock the physical appearance of a Chinese delegation to the EU, saying “all of them had their hair combed from the left to the right—with black shoe polish”.
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