Talk:Martin Schulz

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[edit] Joke or irony

It depends on the translation. I clearly remembered that Berlusconi said "Era ironia", so I looked for sources.
In fact Berlusconi made two different statements: at first, he said "Ho risposto con ironia" (= I replied ironically); after he stated "Era una battuta ironica" (= It was an ironic line).
"Battuta" was translated as "joke", but they're not exactly the same. "Battuta" = specifically "(joking) line". "Joke" = even "barzelletta" or "scherzo".
Ciao. --Llayumri 12:11, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Erik Meijer/accused of national socialism

Has anyone got a better source for the "Martin Schulz accuses Dutch MEP of National Socialism" story? The source given is a link to Meijer's own blog, on which he claims that Schulz tried to prevent him from finishing his speech.

I have watched the recording of the sitting (with the original soundtrack, so not obscured by spoken translations), and notice the following: 1) there is only a faint mumbling in the background (which is almost always there in the parliament) - had someone really tried to stop Meijer speaking, then this would have been clearly audible in the recording; 2) Meijer speaks uniterrupted and seemingly undisturbed, not looking up from his notes at all. Even if Schulz said something during Meijer's speech, Meijer probably wouldn't have caught exactly what Schulz was saying.

Now, far be it from me to accuse the esteemed Erik Meijer of making the whole thing up... but to be honest, I think he did! Meijer's blog is the only source for this story. Since Meijer's and Schulz's seats are some distance apart, Schulz would have to have spoken with a considerable volume so surely some other people would have heard it. Considering that every mention of national socialism in the EP gets made into a big story in the press (think of the Berlusconi/Daniel Hannan affairs), it's strange that this one seems to have gone completely unnoticed.

Quite apart from that, it's almost unimaginable that Schulz of all people would say such a thing, since he himself was at the receiving end of a similar jibe from Berlusconi. On top of that, Schulz is German, for God's sake, he would know better than to do that!

Nope, seems to me my dear compatriot Meijer has aired this little fantasy as part of some grudge against a political rival. Who WON'T be getting my vote then, Mr Meijer?!

p.s. If someone DOES have a better source that confirms Meijer's story, that would of course be welcome too - I'm by no means saying that I know exactly what happened; I was not there... Vlaflipje1982 (talk) 23:39, 25 April 2008 (UTC)