EU: European Commission president José Manuel Barroso has denied any wrongdoing in accepting a holiday on a Greek billionaire's private yacht. Mr Barroso acknowledged that the cruise aboard Spiros Latsis's yacht took place after he was confirmed in his EU post last year but said it had no bearing on his official duties.
"The Commission considers that insofar as it falls outside of the exercise of official duties, the receipt of hospitality is a normal fact of private life and therefore falls in principle under the respect for privacy of each individual commissioner and of those who host them," he said in a statement.
Mr Barroso's statement came after Nigel Farage, an MEP from the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which wants Britain to leave the EU, wrote to the commission president and other commissioners asking them what hospitality they had received since being appointed. The German daily Die Welt reported yesterday that the yachting holiday for Mr Barroso and his wife was worth €20,000 but a commission spokeswoman said yesterday that such a price tag was absurd.
The chief commission spokeswoman, Francoise Le Bail, said that Mr Latsis was an old friend of Mr Barroso, a fellow student in Geneva 25 years ago, and no payment was involved.
"The president illustrated this by saying: 'I for example was invited by a friend for a few days on his boat last August. It was not a cruise, it was a private boat. This was not a paid holiday'," Ms Le Bail said.
Mr Latsis inherited a shipping empire from his father, John Latsis, who died two years ago but has transferred much of his wealth into banking.
A friend of Britain's Prince Charles, John Latsis was well known for the lavish hospitality he treated powerful people to.