Posted on 06/06/2005 9:13:19 AM PDT by knighthawk
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium apologised to the Dutch prime minister on Monday after its foreign minister compared him to Harry Potter, the boy wizard of children's literature.
Following the outrage caused by the remark over the weekend, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt called Dutch leader Jan Peter Balkenende to apologise.
Verhofstadt later released a joint statement with Balkenende, saying they had agreed to put the matter behind them and focus on the "major challenges" facing the European Union.
Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht described Balkenende as "a mix between Harry Potter and a brave rigid bourgeois" in an interview published on Saturday in the Belgian daily Het Laatse Nieuws.
Many have likened Balkenende to Harry Potter with his round glasses, mop of brown hair and youthful looks.
He was even photographed during the 2002 elections holding a picture of himself and Potter film actor Daniel Radcliffe.
De Gucht later said he was comparing Balkenende's style with that of the colourful populist Pim Fortuyn, to explain why the Dutch rejected the EU constitution in a referendum last week.
"If Mr. Balkenende has a problem with it, I have no problem apologising," he told the Belgian news agency Belga, saying he had already sent a letter to say sorry.
Balkenende has been criticised for failing to persuade the Dutch to vote in favour of the constitution.
The referendum exposed popular anger over social welfare cuts, fears about Islamic fundamentalism and an anti-establishment rage that the maverick Fortuyn -- killed by an animal rights activist three years ago -- had tapped into.
It is not the first time that De Gucht has got himself into trouble for being undiplomatic. He recently called Democratic Republic of Congo a "failed state" lacking in good governance.
Ping
Wow - those chocolate-smeared, cheese-eating Eurocrats are harsh!
Anybody else thinking of the Monty Python skit on coming up with the most insulting name for Belgians?
Belgian Potter jibe upsets Dutch
with photo lol!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4613087.stm
Wait, this guy mentions that someone looks like Harry Potter (after that person capitalized on a resemblance to Harry Potter) and gets in trouble for it? And gets in trouble for saying Congo is a mess? Wow, what can you criticise in Europe? Oh yeah, America and/or George Bush. He should switch targets, he'll be loved!
Does someone mind clearing all this up for me?
Where are the Dutch from? Where are the Danes from? What are people from Holland/The Netherlands called?
Uber Dork.
The winning answer -- "Belgians".
The Dutch are the People of the Netherlands aka Holland (but I think Holland is actually a city or region).
The Danes are from Denmark.
You folks have a gift for "fighting words". :)
Even stopped clocks are right twice a day.
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