Merkel: US Diplomat’s ‘F— The EU’ Remark Totally Unacceptable

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, left, speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. A two-day summit meeting of EU leaders is like... Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, left, speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. A two-day summit meeting of EU leaders is likely to be diverted from its official agenda, economic recovery and migration, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained to U.S. President Barack Obama that U.S. intelligence may have monitored her mobile phone. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe) MORE LESS

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has strongly criticized a comment that a senior U.S. diplomat made about the European Union’s role in Ukraine.

Merkel’s spokeswoman says the German leader considers the comment by the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, to be “absolutely unacceptable.”

In a leaked recording, a voice resembling Nuland’s is heard saying “F— the EU,” suggesting that the EU’s position on Ukraine should be ignored.

Wirtz told reporters in Berlin on Friday that Germany believes EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton “is doing a marvelous job” trying to mediate between the government and opposition in Ukraine.

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