Greek PM caught swearing on camera during tax speech
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
It's not every day that you catch the leader of a nation drop the F-bomb. But Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras appeared to do just that on Wednesday when recording a TV address on sales taxes.
The video shown on Greece's Skai TV appears to show Samaras fumble on a sentence and then walk off camera as he is heard saying to himself: "F— my head, malaka!
A representative from Samaras' office said: "The cameraman from the prime minister's office made a mistake and sent the wrong file to Greek TV stations. TV stations usually play the file as breaking news whenever it's a statement from the prime minister. On this occasion, a private TV station broadcast it without checking the content. The correct clip was sent after the mistake had been discovered."
Samaras' gaffe comes just weeks after a more serious battle with another TV station that almost brought down his government. The closure of state-owned ERT led to protests and a political crisis, which was finally resolved with a political compromise.
Samaras will have to bounce back quickly. On Thursday, Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is due to arrive in Athens on a critical visit. Germany, Europe's largest economy, has been a reluctant paymaster, bailing out Greece after its economic crisis struck.
Despite numerous bailouts, Greece faces another 10 billion euro ($13.14 billion) funding hole, according to a newspaper report earlier on Wednesday.
If the report is true, Samaras will need some pretty smart talking to get the German finance minister to agree to more aid just weeks before the German government faces its own elections.
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