Jan Peter Potter

For the past days the Low Countries have been buzzing with talk about a minor diplomatic scandal: in a newspaper interview, the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht has called the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende “a mix of Harry Potter and stiff petty bourgeoisie”. Balkenende was not amused. De Gucht, who is currently on a diplomatic visit in China, faxed his excuses, but it took the Belgian PM and an ambassador to iron out the difficulties…

Minister De Gucht says he does not understand what the fuss is all about; after all, everybody likens Balkenende to Potter – you can even say the Dutch PM parades the likeness (click here for a BBC article, with photo). Maybe he has tired of the comparison by now – or would he have taken offence at the “petty bourgeois” bit?

In any case there has been plenty of Potter on the news these last days, and the incident has brought forth at least one funny cartoon which I did not want to withhold:



Ah, the fabled Belgian diplomacy :-)…