New German EU minister struggles with English

A video circulating on the Web featuring Guenther Oettinger - until now the state premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg - pokes fun at his strong Swabian accent and his rugged syntax. As of Thursday afternoon, Oettinger's language video had more than 1.3 million clicks on YouTube.

"I'm sure there's a good partnership next years between me and my new function for the issue to bring energy in a full sense to the European level," Oettinger, told journalists after his confirmation hearing at the European Parliament two weeks ago when asked about his suitability for the energy commissioner post.

In the European Commission, English is one of three official working languages, the other two being French and German. The EU also employs an army of interpreters and translators to ensure that information is correctly transmitted to its appropriate destination.

For the complete report: New German EU minister struggles with English | From the Fringe | Deutsche Welle | 28.01.2010