By Martin Banks - 17th March 2010
I was astonished
Rainer Lutkehus
Germany's new EU commissioner has been accused of "blatant arrogance" for allegedly refusing entry to participants at a top-level conference.
Several people were refused entry to an energy conference in Brussels on Wednesday where energy commissioner Günther Oettinger was the keynote speaker.
They were told the German official's staff had sent an email stating that no-one could be allowed to enter the conference room after Oettinger had arrived. It also said that no-one could leave until he had left.
This provoked an outcry when several participants turned up slightly late for the event on a single market for the electricity industry at the city's Renaissance hotel.
Ironically, Oettinger himself was late arriving for the event before delivering a 20-minute speech to an audience of stakeholders.
German journalist Rainer Lutkehus was just a few minutes late for the event but was told he could not enter the room.
The veteran journalist, who has been covering EU affairs in Brussels for over 20 years, said, "I was astonished and have never come across this before in all my time here.
"I was registered for the event and could quite easily have slipped into the back of the room without causing any disturbance. To say I am angry is an understatement."
Another registered participant from an EU public affairs company, who did not wish to be named, said, "It is outrageous. I was slightly late for a good reason and had been asked by my company to cover this event.
"It is blatant arrogance and I will lodge a formal complaint with the commission because this is not acceptable."
The event was set up by Eurelectric, the pan-European Union of the Electricity Industry, and the complainants stressed they had no problem with the organisation.
A Eurelectric source told this website, "We are sorry but this had nothing to do with us.
"We simply had an email on Monday from the commissioner's staff saying that no-one could be allowed into the room after he had arrived and that no-one could leave until he had left."
No-one from the commission was immediately available for comment.
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