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It’s not daily {that a} pair of sun shades causes your downfall. However that’s what occurred to Bjørnar Moxnes, a Norwegian left-wing get together chief who was caught on digicam stealing a pair of luxurious sun shades from Oslo airport.
“Lots of people have requested me how I might do one thing so silly. I’ve requested myself that many occasions in latest weeks. I don’t have an ample clarification,” Moxnes wrote on Fb.
In honor of Moxnes’ fall from grace, POLITICO brings you among the most embarrassing resignations in European politics (and there have been loads to select from). From intercourse scandals to misused authorities funds to petty theft, listed here are 11 of probably the most shameful examples with a facepalm rating from 1 (yikes, that’s embarrassing) to five (expensive lord, what have you ever performed?).
Tractor Porn
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UK Conservative MP Neil Parish resigned after being caught watching porn within the Home of Commons chamber in 2022. Parish claimed it was a “second of insanity” and stated he chanced upon the offending grownup content material unintentionally whereas Googling tractors, solely to later admit that he did then take a look at precise porn (it’s unclear if the porn concerned tractors).
Parish admitted in an interview that his spouse all the time discovered him “oversexed.” He added that she would inform him “I’ll get the scissors to you should you don’t behave your self. Snippety, snip” if he obtained “slightly too amorous.” A traditional case of TMI.
Cuban cigars and a non-public jet
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When Haiti was hit by an earthquake in 2010, French Growth Minister Alain Joyandet was prepared to assist. To get to a global assist convention held in Martinique, Joyandet employed a non-public jet price a cool €116,500 — not a terrific look. He resigned after the scandal hit the headlines.
Joyandet was not the one minister discovered to have wasted taxpayer cash beneath former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Junior minister Christan Blanc got here beneath fireplace for purchasing €12,000 price of Cuban cigars utilizing public money. Alas, Blanc couldn’t bear in mind who had smoked all of them. “I smoke two a day … that’s the utmost,” he stated. Who consumed the remaining hundreds of euros price of cigars? he was requested. “I don’t know.”
Tax hypocrisy
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Former French Funds Minister Jérôme Cahuzac was a powerful advocate in opposition to abroad tax havens. You’ll by no means guess what he was later discovered responsible of. It was tax fraud! After all it was. Cahuzac’s unlawful fiscal actions have been first made public in a 2012 investigation by information web site Mediapart, which reported he had did not declare cash saved in a Swiss checking account for shut to twenty years. Oops! The Panama Papers confirmed that Cahuzac additionally owned an organization within the Seychelles. He was sentenced to 2 years in jail for cash laundering and tax fraud.
There was some excellent news that got here out of this case, the creation of an ethics physique, the Haute Autorité de la Transparence pour la Vie Publique.
The Metropolis of Mild — and graphic intercourse messages
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The 2020 race to be mayor of Paris was riddled with inside feuds and get together rivalry. After which Benjamin Griveaux — the La République En Marche candidate and one in every of Emmanuel Macron’s largest supporters — made everybody neglect all about it as he was hit with allegations that he despatched graphic movies to an unidentified girl. Screenshots of sexually express messages attributed to Griveaux — married with three youngsters — went viral, prompting the candidate to step down. “I don’t need to expose myself and my household anymore when any type of assault is allowed, it goes too far,” Griveaux stated in an announcement, maybe ill-advisedly utilizing the phrase “expose.” The sexually express content material was revealed on a weblog registered by Russian artist and activist Piotr Pavlenski. In an added twist, a kind of who unfold the graphic movies extensively on social media was MP Joachim Son-Overlook, who in 2021 had his Twitter account suspended for impersonating Donald Trump!
From a pretend Russian with love
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Austrian Deputy Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache thought he was happening a pleasant trip in Ibiza, the place he met a lady claiming to be a rich Russian citizen who stated she needed to put money into Austria. The lady provided to purchase a 50 % stake in Austria’s Kronen-Zeitung newspaper and change its information line to push the agenda of Strache’s far-right Freedom Celebration. In flip, Strache stated he might award her public contracts. Alas for Strache, she was not a rich Russian in any respect. He later tried to justify his actions by saying it was “a drunken evening” and he was in no matter “intimate trip temper” is!
The following scandal — dubbed “Ibiza-gate” — introduced down Sebastian Kurz’s authorities. To be truthful to Strache, let these of us who haven’t tried to commerce public contracts for get together donations from a lady we believed to be the rich niece of a Russian oligarch solid the primary stone.
25 bare males and a complete lot of medication
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Hungarian MEP József Szájer had one of many wildest exits from workplace in latest reminiscence. A senior member of the Fidesz get together, recognized for its conservative views and its anti-LGBTQ stance, Szájer was caught attending a lockdown-busting get together in Brussels in 2020. Police discovered 25 bare males on the gathering, in accordance with Belgian media reviews, and a passerby reported seeing a person fleeing alongside the gutter, main the police to apprehend Szájer and discover narcotics in his backpack, prosecutors stated. Viktor Orbán referred to as the deed “unacceptable and indefensible” and Szájer stop the get together and his publish in Brussels. For some purpose, there’s not a statue of Szájer in Brussels.
Pores and skin within the recreation
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5 years earlier than Moxnes and the Hugo Boss sun shades, regional head of Madrid Cristina Cifuentes made headlines when outdated footage circulated exhibiting her allegedly stealing anti-aging cream. The incident was an “involuntary error,” stated Cifuentes, who was launched after paying for the €40 cream. However because the shoplifting scandal broke on the tail of a information web site accusing her of mendacity about her graduate diploma, Cifuentes stepped down from her function.
Grabbing a chunk to eat
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In one more shoplifting scandal, a Slovenian MP misplaced his job after stealing a sandwich from a store in Ljubljana. Darij Krajcic reportedly advised his colleagues he grew to become irritated when grocery store staff ignored him and determined to conduct what he referred to as a “social experiment” to check the store’s safety. Whereas the theft went unnoticed, stress from colleagues led to his resignation — and to him paying again the price of the sandwich.
EU mass exodus
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Of all of the embarrassing resignations on this listing, that is the one with the most individuals concerned. In 1999, the complete European Fee led by Jacques Santer resigned after a scathing committee report discovered it responsible of “corruption, misuse of energy and fraud.” The 140-page report by unbiased consultants checked out expenses of widespread fraud, nepotism, and corruption within the Fee. One of many commissioners on the heart of the storm, former French Prime Minister Edith Cresson, was closely criticized for hiring pals and family, together with her native dentist, to well-paid positions. The dentist, René Berthelot, didn’t get his tooth into the adviser function he was given, and produced solely a 24-page doc throughout his 18-month stint working for the EU.
Obtained any snus?
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John Dalli, the EU commissioner for well being, resigned in 2012 after an anti-fraud inquiry linked him to an try and affect tobacco laws. A Dalli aide referred to as Silvio Zammit was accused of making an attempt to acquire a whopping €60 million from a tobacco firm referred to as Swedish Match to reverse an EU ban on snus, a sort of smokeless tobacco that may make the consumer appear to be they’re gargling bin juice. Dalli claimed he was dismissed by the Fee chief on the time, José Manuel Barroso, and took him to court docket. In 2019, the EU’s Normal Court docket rejected Dalli’s declare for compensation for damages he claims he suffered because of dropping his job.
The PM, the spy providers, his spouse and his lover
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In 2013, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas resigned after his chief of workers, Jana Nagyova, was charged with corruption and abuse of energy. Among the many crimes, Nagyova was accused of bribing former MPs, however what made headlines was her unlawful use of the key service. It seems that Nagyova, who was having an affair with Necas on the time, allegedly used navy intelligence to spy on the prime minister’s spouse. For sure, this explicit resignation was adopted by a divorce. However it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Necas and Nagyova had a contented ending, getting married quickly after.
