Merkel won’t take action over bathing suit photos

19 April 2006

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans no legal action against a British tabloid which published unflattering photos of her in a bathing suit taken by paparazzi during a recent vacation in Italy, a spokesman said Wednesday.

“She made a very decided and very swift decision after publication of the photos not to take legal steps,” said deputy spokesman Thomas Steg, adding that negative views expressed by the German public over such photos “was enough.”

German newspapers overwhelmingly declined to publish the photos. The only exception was the tabloid Bild which printed a tiny version of one picture with Merkel’s face blacked out.

Steg praised the German media for, as he put it, having “behaved responsibly” with the photos.

Britain’s tabloid The Sun ran the Merkel photos under the headline: “I’m big in the Bumdestag.” This was a play on the wording of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament.

The paper added: “German leader Angela Merkel has pulled up her country’s economy – and now she’s pulling up her pants.”

In Italy, the photos have been given ample prominence including the heavyweight Corriere della Sera paper which published a Merkel bathing suit picture on Wednesday.

DPA

Subject: German news