Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman came under fire after kissing his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. “Forcibly kissing a woman is called violence, right?” – Jadranka Kosor, former Prime Minister of Croatia, wrote on social media. Radman said that “maybe it was an awkward moment,” but “we are friends and we always greet each other warmly.”
The recording of a joint photo of EU foreign ministers meeting in Berlin on Thursday shows the head of Croatian diplomacy, Gordan Grlić Radman, kissing the cheek of the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is turning away. “We are a country where the head of diplomacy is neither diplomatic nor fundamentally decent,” commented the Jutarnji list daily on Friday.
Minister under fire after attempted kissReuters
– This is a completely inappropriate gesture that should not have happened. It seems that the minister does not know the protocol at all, says Rada Borić, a politician and women’s rights defender. – Men, remember, a woman will let you know what she wants and what she doesn’t want. Thanks to this, you won’t be aggressive or funny, he adds.
Read also: The Germans sang a folk song at the St. Peter’s Fair. Dominika, they later apologized. “They didn’t mean to offend anyone in any way.”
– He and diplomacy don’t have much in common, he lacks basic, classic etiquette. Such entry into a woman’s personal space without her express invitation is unthinkable even in non-diplomatic circles – points out Sanja Sarnavka, an activist for human rights.
The former prime minister also commented on the matter on X (formerly Twitter). Croatia in 2009-11 Jadranka Kosor. “Forcibly kissing a woman is called violence, right?” – she wrote.
“It may have been an awkward moment,” but “we always greet each other warmly.”
Grlić Radman himself, commenting on the event, admitted that “maybe it was an awkward moment”, but “we are friends and we always greet each other warmly”. – If it bothered anyone or noticed something wrong with it, I apologize – he added, but noted that he “doesn’t know what the problem is.”
– I wasn’t even aware of this situation until I saw the video. It was a warm and human approach to his colleague, he said, emphasizing that Baerbock “didn’t blame him.”
Main photo source: Reuters