Tuesday, December 5, 2023
 
 

EU's top diplomat apologises for "Greta syndrome" comments on youth activists.

EPA-EFE/GIAN EHRENZELLER
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg attends a panel session during the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, 21 January 2020.

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EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell apologised for saying at a debate in Brussels on Wednesday that he questions “the idea that young people are seriously committed to stopping climate change – we could call it the Greta syndrome.”
Greta Thunberg is the 17-years-old Swedish activist who inspired the student-led Fridays for Future movement, persuading millions of young people worldwide to urge their leaders to take climate change more seriously.
‘I wonder if young people demonstrating on the streets of Berlin calling for measures against climate change are aware of the cost of these measures; and if they are willing to reduce their living standards to compensate Polish miners, because if we fight against climate change for real, they will lose their jobs and will have to be subsidised,” added EU’s Foreign Policy chief.
Borrell’s comments have sparked immense criticism, with the Greens/EFA group of the European Parliament tweeting that his comments “are unacceptable for a representative of the EU.”
“I want to apologise to anyone that may have felt offended by my inappropriate reference to the important youth movement fighting climate change,” Borrell tweeted on Saturday, while returning from his visit to the US.
 

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