An interview with the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, set sparks flying in Germany after he criticized Berlin's EU policy and overall attitude to Europe in what some called an election ploy.

Barroso's comments were a "provocation" which "amazed" diplomats in Brussels, Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) wrote in its Monday edition.

 

On Saturday, Belgian newspaper De Standaard published a wide- ranging interview with Barroso in which the head of the European Union's executive arm first said he "got along well" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and then accused Germany of "contradictory" behavior towards the EU.

 

Germany "pulled Europe out of the crisis over the Reform Treaty, so it has no need to catch up" with the rest of the union, European parliamentarian Elmar Brok told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) in an implicit rejection of Barroso's comments.