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German Sex Scandal
Earlier this week, Germany's European Commissioner Günter Verheugen was telling Britons that they could continue to use traditional weights and measures.
Turns out that the only length Verheugen should have concerned himself with was the one he was (allegedly) slipping to his mistress.
Verheugen - married twenty years - has always denied that there was anything improper about his relationship with his special adviser, Petra Erler. Despite being photographed holidaying naked with Frau Erler (hey - they're German), he insisted that they were nothing more than friends. "I consider that the question of where and with whom I choose to spend my August holidays is a purely private matter which does not concern anyone other than my wife, who was informed about it,” he complained.
Other photos of the pair holding hands were also dismissed.
Indeed, he told the German media as much when pressed on rumours of his relationship; it is alleged that he also confirmed to his boss, Commission President José Manuel Barroso, that his adviser was "just good friends" when he promoted her to the post of Chief of Staff.
EU Commissioners are forbidden to secure plum jobs for their lovers. The move took her salary from €9,045 to €11,579 a month, and drew a great deak of attention in the German press. Many agreed that she was certainly a brilliant administrator, though some worried that she guarded the Commissioner's diary a little too zealously.
However, last week a German newspaper published photos of Verheugen arriving at Erler's house and leaving the following morning, looking rather worse for wear. The Times publishes one photo, along with some background on the case, including reports that the Commissioner's wife is planning to divorce him.
Worse, a Social Democratic colleague, Katrin Fuchs, spilled the beans on her political partner in Bunte magazine this week. She claims that not only was Verheugen having an affair with Frau Erler at the time of her promotion, he had told his wife about his affair as early as 2005.
A surreal touch is added by the fact that Verheugen told his wife he his mistress was an astrophysicist. She learned about Erler a year later, said Fuchs.
Mr Verheugen, as Vice President of the European Commission, is said to be the most powerful German in Brussels. The FT reports that despite calls for the Commissioner's head (mainly from centre-right rivals in Germany), he will probably ride calls for his resignation, unlike World Bank head Paul Wolfowitz, who set his girlfriend up with a plum job in his organisation and was later forced to resign.
It is reported that while Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed him to date, her patience is wearing thin: Tim Worstall uncovered one of the most interesting facts about the affair, thanks to a commentator on his blog:
"Interestingly enough, Ms Erhler is the most senior former East German Communist apparatchik in the European Institutions and was formerly Frau Merkel's boss."
