The European Commission on Friday reprimanded its ambassador to Vienna, Martin Zellmayr, and summoned him to Brussels for talks after Austria sharply criticized the intervention, in which he accused the Austrian government of paying “money stained with blood” to Moscow, the agency reported. EFE, quotes. from Agerpres.

“We all know that diplomacy depends not only on the appropriate content, but also on the right tone (…) The choice of words by the head of our representation in Austria was not only useless, but also inappropriate,” European Commission rapporteur Balaž Ujvari, who emphasized , that the EU ambassador “must carefully consider every word.”

The German Martin Zellmayr, the former secretary general of the European Commission and in 2012-2018 the chief of staff of the ex-president of this institution, Jean-Claude Juncker, was then considered one of the most influential politicians in Brussels.

In a public debate on Wednesday, he said Austria was sending Moscow “blood money” for not cutting Russian natural gas imports.

“Oh my God! 55% of Austrian gas continues to come from Russia (…) Bloody money is sent to Russia every day,” said a representative of the European Commission.

He also stated that he is surprised that no one in Vienna is taking to the streets to protest against these imports, which he believes Austria could do without because it is a “rich” country.

The diplomat claims that he was defending the EU against groundless accusations

After these statements, the head of the European Commission’s representation was summoned to the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for negotiations. Meanwhile, the European Commission has summoned him to Brussels to “discuss the matter with its hierarchy,” according to the Commission spokesman mentioned above, who also said the EU executive had contacted the Austrian government about the matter.

In a statement later given to the Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse, Zellmayr argued that his comments were in response to an unidentified person who accused the EU of “belligerent” behavior over military aid offered to Ukraine, and who allegedly said that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are bloodied.

In the period since the start of the war in Ukraine, the European Commission has also criticized Austria for insufficient efforts to reduce dependence on Russian gas.

In the message sent on Friday, the EU executive mentioned that EU countries, including Austria, have committed to rapidly reduce Russian gas imports and to stop them completely in the medium term, around 2027.

Before the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, about 80% of natural gas imported by Austria came from Russia. The current Austrian government has meanwhile managed to reduce this percentage, but it cites the fact that the Austrian company OMV has a contract with Russia’s Gazprom until 2040, which cannot be terminated without penalties.

Austria is trying to diversify its natural gas supply, but being landlocked is also an obstacle.

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