What’s the most bizarre thing a politician from your country actually said?

[u/EvilPyro01]

“They should Pokemon GO to the polls” Hillary Clinton 2016

[u/oktopossum]

„Wenn Sie ... vom Hauptbahnhof in München ... mit zehn Minuten, ohne, dass Sie am Flughafen noch einchecken müssen, dann starten Sie im Grunde genommen am Flughafen ... am ... am Hauptbahnhof in München starten Sie Ihren Flug. Zehn Minuten. Schauen Sie sich mal die großen Flughäfen an, wenn Sie in Heathrow in London oder sonst wo, meine se ... Charles de Gaulle äh in Frankreich oder in ...äh... in ... in...äh...in Rom.

Wenn Sie sich mal die Entfernungen ansehen, wenn Sie Frankfurt sich ansehen, dann werden Sie feststellen, dass zehn Minuten... Sie jederzeit locker in Frankfurt brauchen, um ihr Gate zu finden. Wenn Sie vom Flug ... vom ... vom Hauptbahnhof starten - Sie steigen in den Hauptbahnhof ein, Sie fahren mit dem Transrapid in zehn Minuten an den Flughafen in ... an den Flughafen Franz Josef Strauß.

Dann starten Sie praktisch hier am Hauptbahnhof in München. Das bedeutet natürlich, dass der Hauptbahnhof im Grunde genommen näher an Bayern ... an die bayerischen Städte heranwächst, weil das ja klar ist, weil auf dem Hauptbahnhof viele Linien aus Bayern zusammenlaufen."

• Edmund Stoiber, 2002

In english:

"If you ... from the main station in Munich ... with ten minutes, without having to check in at the airport, then you basically start at the airport ... at ... you start your flight at the main station in Munich. Ten minutes. Take a look at the big airports, if you're at Heathrow in London or somewhere else, my se ... Charles de Gaulle uh in France or in ...uh... in ... in...uh...in Rome.

If you look at the distances, if you look at Frankfurt, you'll see that ten minutes... you can easily find your gate in Frankfurt at any time. If you are coming from the flight ... from ... from the main station - you board the main station, you take the Transrapid to the airport in ... to Franz Josef Strauß Airport.

Then you practically start here at Munich Central Station. Of course, this means that the main station is basically closer to Bavaria ... ... to the Bavarian cities, because it's clear that many lines from Bavaria converge at the main station."

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

EDIT: On 21 January 2002, the then Bavarian premier, Edmund Stoiber (CSU), made a famously incoherent speech about a pet project of his: the construction of a new, fast connection between Munich central station and Munich airport, using the ‘Transrapid’ (a German prototype of a magnetic levitation train) to reduce travelling time from 60 down to 10 minutes. This became one of the very first political "memes" in germany so to speak.

EDIT 2: The english translation is pretty much on point btw.

[u/exfat-scientist → u/oktopossum]

Man, I thought my German was getting really rusty, then I saw the English made about as much sense as I could make from the German...

[u/avsbes → u/exfat-scientist]

To be fair, you're looking at a Speech by Edmund Stoiber, who speaks approximately 0.4 languages - and 0.3 of this is exclusively Bavarian dialect.

[u/ubus99 → u/oktopossum]

I know the Meme, but can you give some context to people from other countries or that are too young to remember (like me)?

[u/oktopossum → u/ubus99]

👍 Added context to my post.

[u/Rooilia → u/oktopossum]

I remember this, i wouldn't have tought giving such a... äh... "speech" would be possible.

[u/chillbill1 → u/oktopossum]

Wasn't he also the one with the "problem Bär"? Aka the last bear that ever stepped in Germany?

[u/oktopossum → u/chillbill1]

Yes, RIP Bruno 😥 His speech (🤣): https://genius.com/Edmund-stoiber-problembar-rede-annotated

[u/Arneb1729 → u/chillbill1]

Oddly enough Problembär was the correct technical term. It's not inherently ridiculous, it became ridiculous because Stoiber was the one to use it. The guy was just that bad at speaking in public.

[u/dualdee → u/oktopossum]

I understood both versions about equally, and I don't even speak German.

Though to be fair, I'm not convinced he does, either.

[u/JuventAussie → u/oktopossum]

Is he a distant relative of Trump? ....he shares his speech making ability.

[u/oktopossum → u/JuventAussie]

legend says he became public speaking coach for at least two american presidents after he left the political stage in germany.

[u/xander012]

Liz Truss rambling about us importing cheese and then just saying "That is a DISGRACE" was probably the most bizarre moment for a PM. Frankly she is the most bizarre PM we've had by far.

[u/Low-Confidence-1401 → u/xander012]

Pork markets!

[u/xander012 → u/Low-Confidence-1401]

I'm a fighter not a quitter!

[u/Thatwierdhullcityfan → u/xander012]

Then not even 24 hours later

I am resigning

[u/ideonode → u/Thatwierdhullcityfan]

She made the Daily Star a master of political satire. The Daily fucking Star.

[u/Thatwierdhullcityfan → u/ideonode]

Yes, genuinely them bringing out a lettuce and it outlasting her was the funniest moment in British politics

[u/Thatwierdhullcityfan → u/xander012]

It’s the awkward silence as well before saying that is a disgrace, like she was waiting for the crowd to gasp in shock at how could this great country import two thirds of our cheese like it’s some sort of grave crime. Worse than war, poverty, homelessness etc

[u/holytriplem → u/xander012]

She's said even weirder things since leaving office

[u/xander012 → u/holytriplem]

I don't count her as a politician post 4th July 2024, she's just an idiot with a too good for her pension now

[u/holytriplem → u/xander012]

She made plenty of weird statements between resigning as PM and being elected out of parliament.

There's this entire incredibly weird speech she gave at some US think tank which included such gems as "I fear our country is becoming a social democracy through the back door"

Edit: here it is

[u/_MusicJunkie → u/holytriplem]

some US think tank

That's the "project 2025" one isn't it?

[u/Rooilia → u/xander012]

The moment, when she smiles into the audience and awaits the resounding applause and the hall just stays quiet. I was so disgusted and delighted at the same time.

(After rambling about evil continental sausage i think and how Britain took the sausage souvereignity back)

[u/awl21 → u/Rooilia]

Was it Liz Truss or was it Jim Hacker.

[u/LikelyNotSober → u/xander012]

Isn’t she the one that killed the Queen?

[u/ubus99]

During the ISIS crisis 10 Years ago, the minister of the interior said "I can't answer your question (regarding a possible attack), since parts of the answer would unsettle the public"

[u/JustMeLurkingAround- → u/ubus99]

In that time frame, my personal WTF comment was that far right AfD person (was it Petry?) who in all ernesty demanded that **refugees should just be shot at the border*. 

After a public outcry she dialed it back (about 0.001%) and clarified she only meant the men. We could make an exception for children maybe. 

[u/Client_020 → u/JustMeLurkingAround-]

To me, it doesn't seem like we're that far from this reality. We're already accepting illegal pushbacks that sometimes kill people.

[u/Clifnore → u/JustMeLurkingAround-]

Wow, that's insane that they felt they could say that out loud...

[u/tirohtar → u/JustMeLurkingAround-]

And we still haven't banned the AfD... Sometimes I despair when looking at Germany's government inaction...

[u/JustMeLurkingAround- → u/tirohtar]

I often wonder why people around me are not as scared as I am. The direction the world is moving to, this "rechtsruck" is seriously disturbing and people are just shrugging "It is what it is". 

I'm glad, I'm not totally alone in my despair. Thank you, reddit stranger. 

[u/EvilPyro01 → u/ubus99]

That sounds like if the CIA, to this day, is still hiding video of 9/11 due to “graphic content”

[u/woggas]

Bertie Ahern, Irish minister for finance,"I don't have a bank account", while being investigated for corruption

[u/NuclearMaterial → u/woggas]

Some chad English journalist was questioning him there recently about corruption allegations and he flaked out of the interview. Just folded like a house of cards. He's some chancer, he should be nowhere near a presidential candidate slot.

[u/K_man_k → u/NuclearMaterial]

It was a German journo, no?

[u/NuclearMaterial → u/K_man_k]

I thought he was an English chap on a German channel. Perhaps he just had excellent English himself though.

Either way he wasn't letting Bertie worm out of it.

[u/Smeghead78 → u/woggas]

Also “If you stop waffling, we might get some work done. You're a waffler. You've been years around here waffling. “ Bertie Ahern addressing Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell in Dáil Éireann.

[u/fartingbeagle → u/woggas]

"Goldman Sachs have their testicles around the world "

[u/Hungry_Knowledge_893 → u/woggas]

Portuguese here: once our President, who had also been the PM for 10 years in the past said, to some accusations of receiving stock in order to favour a company that he "didn't understand how stock worked"

He was an economics professor for over a decade, with a PhD in the University of York

[u/Saavedroo]

"Mais qu'est-ce qu'elle me veut de plus cette mégère ? Mes couilles sur un plateau ?"

What more does that crone¹ want from me ? My balls on a plate ?

• Jacques Chirac about Margaret Thatcher at the european council.

He had forgotten to turn off his microphone.

¹ Not the best translation but I can't find any good one right now.

[u/standupstrawberry → u/Saavedroo]

From context clues I'd say mégère is perhaps "hag"?

Edit: I ended up looking it up (wicktionary), "ill tempered woman" and they suggested either shrew or vixen. Shrew would have been in use at the time and is probably most appropriate. I don't think crone is terrible as a translation, but like hag it is also focusing on being old and unattractive which I don't know if mégère has that connotation.

[u/sohereiamacrazyalien → u/standupstrawberry]

yeah hag is the perfect word for it!

[u/standupstrawberry → u/sohereiamacrazyalien]

Awsome! I will be keeping mégère in the back pocket for the future in that case (is it a bit dated as a word? I don't mind though).

I would quite likesomething that means "bitter old cunt" as well if you have any suggestions?

[u/Saavedroo → u/standupstrawberry]

Mégère is indeed dated but would still fit for "Bitter old cunt."

[u/sohereiamacrazyalien → u/Saavedroo]

but megere is not vulgar , cunt is!

just adding this for clarification

[u/sohereiamacrazyalien → u/standupstrawberry]

the real translation for cunt with the same double meaning of cunt would be conasse (conne is more mild, con for a man) but it's for some reason less vulgar than in english . isn't that funny? it means and idiot, narrow monded not intelligent person. conasse is a bit more vulgar though.

I would say salope maybe?

mégère doesn't specifically refer to an old woman but often it is, and yes mainly it's bitter, mean, bad tempered.

you could use witch as a synonym I guess.

is it dated I don't know people still use it ... often probably not , idk ... I think people are maybe more and more rude and would go for salope or connasse.

[u/Komnos → u/Saavedroo]

Perfectly reasonable question regarding her, to be honest.

[u/holytriplem → u/Saavedroo]

There's also Gérald Darmanin and pretty much everything he's ever said

[u/Hyadeos → u/holytriplem]

Or anything Bayrou says lol

[u/Money_Committee_5625]

Hungary played 0:0 against Saudi Arabia (away), and that prompted then prime minister Gyurcsány Ferenc to say:

"És én azt gondolom, hogy a focisták között, a szaúdi focisták között nagyon-nagyon sok terrorista is volt, a mi fiaink pedig halált megvető bátorsággal küzdöttek ezen terroristák ellen, és ilyen esetben a döntetlen idegenben, ez egy fantasztikus eredmény."

"I think there are a lot of terrorist among the footballers, among the Saudi footballers, and our boys did not fear death when they fought against these terrorist, so an away draw is a fantastic result"

[u/ignatiusjreillyXM → u/Money_Committee_5625]

Is this the same PM who got caught saying "we lied and we lied" or something to that effect? As for that quote...wow..

[u/Alokir → u/ignatiusjreillyXM]

Yes, and that speech gave us 15 years of Orbán...

[u/NCC_1701E]

Damn, that would be enough material for a whole book.

But my personal favourite:

"We will board tanks and raze Budapest with the ground!" - eternal drunk Ján Slota, 1999.

[u/Mccopi → u/NCC_1701E]

Slovakia is an eternal source of bizarre political speeches and sayings. My favorite:

"And show me another country in the European union that had such a big Slovakian national uprising... Nowhere... nowhere...we have the biggest Slovakian national uprising"

Richard Glück from political party Smer SD had this brilliant observation in TV debate.

[u/Alokir → u/NCC_1701E]

I like to imagine a timeline where our nationalists are born in the opposite site of the border.

Would be fun to watch a boxing match where Szlota János (with his greater Hungary tattoo) is fighting against Ladislav Torockai (with white-blue-red face paint).

[u/MiddleFinger287 → u/NCC_1701E]

Do tankoch

[u/zurribulle]

I have a card game based on crazy sentences by Mariano Rajoy, ex Spain's prime minister. I cannot choose just one

[u/KristaNeliel → u/zurribulle]

"This is like that water that falls from the sky and nobody knows where it comes from"

[u/EvilPyro01 → u/KristaNeliel]

Was this him discovering the concept of rain?

[u/KristaNeliel → u/EvilPyro01]

We're not sure. Ironic... since he comes from one of the rainiest regions in Spain. Also his successor (from the same region) asked a farmer why cows had female names. There is also A LOT of cows there.

[u/HiganbanaSam → u/zurribulle]

"We're feelings and we have human beings"

[u/SrZape → u/zurribulle]

"The worse the better for all and the worse for all the better, better for me the your political benefit"

I just self-fucked my mind trying to translate this

[u/GavUK → u/SrZape]

Does that make as little sense in the original Spanish as it seems to in English?

[u/Tossal → u/GavUK]

"Your entire political strategy is based on one maxim: The worse, the better for everyone. And the worse for everyone, the better... the better for me, yours... political profit."

He was going for something like "the worse for everyone, the better for you politically."

[u/SrZape → u/zurribulle]

"It is the citizen who chooses the mayor, and the mayor is the one who wants the citizens the mayor"

[u/Tossal → u/zurribulle]

Do you think before talking or talk after thinking?

It's one thing to be solidary, and a very different thing to be solidary in exchange for nothing.

What we've done, which you didn't do, is deceiving the people.

I will do everything I can and a bit more than I can if that's possible, and everything possible and even the impossible if the impossible is also possible.

Just off the top of my head.

[u/SrZape → u/Tossal]

Today I'm here and on the 15th and those who want to remember that remember that I am here, even if it's not physically, more intensely than today

[u/Tossal → u/SrZape]

A truly notable thing happened to me, that I wrote it down here and I can't understand my own handwriting.

[u/scarletohairy → u/Tossal]

Ok this one made me laugh out loud! I would totally do this but I’m an administrative assistant who dgaf what anyone thinks.

[u/Planet_Pluto_1925 → u/Tossal]

The Spanish are very Spanish and very Spanish

[u/Tossal → u/Planet_Pluto_1925]

Very Spanish and much Spanish.

I like Catalans because they do things.

[u/Otocolobus_manul8 → u/zurribulle]

'ETA es una gran nacion, Epsaña es una gran nacion'

[u/elferrydavid → u/zurribulle]

It's the neighbour who chooses the mayor and it's the mayor who chooses the neighbour the mayor.

[u/Sopadefideos1 → u/zurribulle]

"We have to build machines that allow us to continue building machines, because the only thing a machine will never do is build machines."

"The most important thing that can be done for you is what you can do for yourselves." (to the people of Lorca after the earthquake)

"Everything that refers to me and that appears there, and to the party colleagues who appear there, it is not true, except for some things that the media has published."

"Talavera pottery isn't a minor thing; in other words, it's a major thing."

"Sometimes it's best not to make decisions, and that in itself is a decision."

[u/Moppermonster]

"Maybe you should sniff a little less coke"
-- Former Pirate Party leader and fetishmodel Ancilla Tilia to singer Gordon during a debate on privacy

"I have no active memory of this"
-- Former prime minister and current NATO head Mark Rutte after being exposed as a liar.

[u/OllieV_nl → u/Moppermonster]

We also had Van der Staaij claim that rapes don't lead to as many pregnancies, but that's of course a fairy tale that had been whispered to him from the States. He got a lot more pushback for it than the God botherers in the States do.

[u/wingedcoyote → u/OllieV_nl]

There's a lot that's insane about the US and especially it's politics, but to be fair the "legitimate rape" guy Todd Akin got pretty widely shouted down, his ass kicked in the election, and afaict never worked in politics again

[u/jamesbananashakes → u/Moppermonster]

And since this week you can add Eric van der Burg to that list, who called a Member of Parliament a "kutwijf" (cunt) and another party "teringlijers" (wishing/saying a group of people to suffer from TBC) while parliament was in session and after complaining people were so harsh to him lately.

[u/Magnetronaap → u/Moppermonster]

"Do we want more or fewer Moroccans?" upon which the crowd chanted "fewer, fewer!" and Geert Wilders responded "then we'll go fix that". He was, of course, talking about Dutch people of Moroccan descent.

[u/MeetSus → u/Magnetronaap]

You solved an 6 year old question I have had that Google couldn't help with, thank you so much

The question being what does "minder, minder" refer to in the cojones wilders parody spitbattle

[u/Arktikos02 → u/Magnetronaap]

So he wants to strip people of their passports or something? Eww 🤢

[u/ipakin94 → u/Arktikos02]

No, worse: he was insinuating that he was going to deport people. Of course, when asked, he said he didn't mean it that way and blamed the media for getting the message across that way.

He was convicted by the Supreme Court for group insult, but got no penalty because the judges did not consider that fitting for a politician.

[u/justonlyme1244 → u/Moppermonster]

I don’t have time to look it up now but one that came to mind was the conversation between Mark Rutte and Geert Wilders. Where Mark Rutte says Geert Wilders is like a woman who doesn’t want to be loved and makes herself as unattractive as possible.

[u/KingKingsons → u/justonlyme1244]

You missed the best part, where Wilders then questioned how he could possibly know, since many people believe he’s a virgin.

[u/Jelmerdts → u/Moppermonster]

There is a huge housing crisis going on here. A young girl asked Minister of housing, Hugo de Jonge, about what he was going to do so that she could buy a home in the future.

"Why don't you just find a rich boyfriend?"

[u/Mariannereddit → u/Moppermonster]

Recent addition

• “Teringlijers” (VVD’er van der Burg)
• “Kutwijf” (also VVD’er van der Burg)

[u/team_cactus → u/Moppermonster]

"U kijkt zo lief," or "You look so sweet," with 'look' in the sense of looking at something else, not appearance.
--CDA leader Balkenende in 2010 during a political debate.

The CDA (the Christian democratic party) constantly had more than 40 seats under Balkenende, out of 150 total, which is a lot. He was seen as a safe, if boring option. During a debate for the next elections in 2010, the debate leader repeatedly asked him a question, after which he said the above to her. These aren't words that you'd expect from a statesman.

The CDA lost 20 seats that election. It's not fair to attribute it all to this blunder, but it definitely didn't help.

Link to the debate where he said this (It's just a 20 second clip, but you can immediately see how awkward it becomes even if you can't understand what they're saying.)

[u/ItsAPandaGirl → u/Moppermonster]

"I drank a good glass of wine and then made some love." - Trump fanboy Thierry Baudet, on what he went to do after walking out while shooting Jinek.

[u/-SQB- → u/ItsAPandaGirl]

Relevant addition: shooting aka filming a TV show called Jinek, after its presenter. Another guest, a comedian, harshly roasted him for being the little fascist shit he is.

[u/fredagsfisk → u/Moppermonster]

Eh, could be worse... the Swedish Pirate Party was already losing ground in the polls because they had failed to adapt to changes in the political landscape, and then completely crashed and burned when the founder said in an interview that CP should be legal because "freedom of information".

Then he tried to accuse media of tricking/baiting him, or misrepresenting his (very clear) response, before a couple of years of silence followed by him advocating the exact same thing on his personal blog.

[u/CreepyOctopus]

Sweden's most bizarre thing is definitely without competition.

Background - 1992, a meeting in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm where the majority is non-European immigrants. A right-wing populist party had just entered the parliament, with anti-immigrant rhetoric. A shooter was on the loose in the Stockholm area, specifically targeting immigrants. He had shot eleven people by the time of the meeting.

Prime Minister Bildt and Culture Minister Birgit Friggebo are meeting with the local community in Rinkeby. The meeting is full of immigrants who are concerned for their safety, and things start to get a little bit heated. Then Friggebo decided to intervene:

"Hallå! Nu tycker jag att vi gemensamt i denna sal sjunger We Shall Overcome"

"Listen up! I think it's time for us here to all together sing We Shall Overcome"

That's unbeatable.

[u/fredagsfisk → u/CreepyOctopus]

There are few times you can really see someone die inside as clearly as Carl Bildt did in that moment...

[u/CreepyOctopus → u/fredagsfisk]

I think you can hear him mutter "men för helvete" there. Definitely quite a moment.

[u/frammedkuken → u/CreepyOctopus]

Link for anyone who wants to see it!

[u/Fit_Organization7129 → u/frammedkuken]

I cringe just being reminded, so no, i won't watch it.

[u/Snapphane88 → u/Fit_Organization7129]

Same. Its too painful.

[u/acklig_crustare → u/CreepyOctopus]

Yup, this is the one.

[u/Hot-Disaster-9619]

There is one guy in polish politics who keep on repeating that Hitler had no clue about holocaust. There are even memes about him.

Also our former prime minister once said that in ancient times people used to throw rocks at dinosaurs to hunt them.

[u/Blackoutus13 → u/Hot-Disaster-9619]

Ach, Janusz Korwin-Mikke.

Sugar with tea. Protocol 1%. Him holding some anime maid at Pyrkon. Infinity Gauntlet. That animation of him saying "That's how free market works" and flying through the window. "PANIE JANUSZU, NIEEEE"...

He has given so many memes to my generation.

[u/Otocolobus_manul8 → u/Blackoutus13]

J. Korwin Mikke - Łe ol liw in ze jelo sabmarin 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_Efr6Q0QIYI

[u/Komnos → u/Hot-Disaster-9619]

Also our former prime minister once said that in ancient times people used to throw rocks at dinosaurs to hunt them.

This one is technically true!

...but only because birds are now classified as dinosaurs, because a clade includes all descendants, no exceptions.

[u/Non_possum_decernere → u/Hot-Disaster-9619]

Also our former prime minister once said that in ancient times people used to throw rocks at dinosaurs to hunt them.

That's such a funny picture 😂

[u/Neveed]

I don't know if it's the weirdest, but it's probably the most famous one out of the weird thing François Bayrou (the current prime minister of France, the one who is about to be removed by the parliament next week) said. Here is an English translation.

Those who know me know it, I'm obsessed with what the solar system represents. How many stars like the sun there are in the solar system. If I'm not mistaken, there are between 200 and 400 billions. And 1 billion, as everybody here knows, is 1000 millions. So there are between 200 and 400 times 1000 million suns in the solar system. It's easy to represent what it means, you take a 1m x 1m cube, you fill it with the finest sand from the sea (tell me if I'm wrong) and each grain of sand is the equivalent of one sun in the solar system. And then if you ask me how many galaxies like the Milky Way there are in the solar system, that's 2000 billions as it was recently found. It used to be believed to be 400 billions. The difference is slim, but it still means there aren't enough grains of sand on Earth to represent the stars of the system of our universe.

This was during a speech in front of researchers in the museum of natural history during an event about women in sciences.

The president is also very bad with metaphors, but he loves doing them, so he keeps coming up with weird stuff that completely distracts from his point.

The world is made of herbivores and carnivores. If we decide to keep being herbivores, the carnivores will win and we will be a market for them. I think at least, it would be nice to choose being omnivores. I don't want to be aggressive, I just want us to be able to defend on each of these topics. But I don't want to let Europe be a big theater inhabited by herbivores that carnivore, as per their agenda, will come to eat.

He was talking about China and the US. And the metaphor is relatively easy to understand. It's just the weirdest way to say he doesn't want China and the USA to turn us into vassals.

[u/IC_1318 → u/Neveed]

Bayrou's monologue is a Trump-level speech.

[u/Hobbitinthehole]

Silvio Berlusconi once told Martin Schulz he should play the role of a Kapo in an oncoming movie about the Holocaust.

It's not even the most bizzarre thing Berlusconi said, actually.

[u/LyannaTarg → u/Hobbitinthehole]

Obama is so tanned. He also said that.

[u/Hobbitinthehole → u/LyannaTarg]

The jokes about Rosy Bindi too.

[u/zen_arcade2 → u/Hobbitinthehole]

“Hello, police? Yeah, there’s this Moroccan girl you arrested a few hours ago, right? The thing is, in fact she is Mubarak’s granddaughter, so you really have to let her go, it’s a matter of national security”

Turns out the girl was an underage prostitute who was very dear to him. Then the Parliament voted that he really believed the girl was the granddaughter of Hosni Mubarak. Curtains

[u/Nirocalden → u/Hobbitinthehole]

He Schulz should play the role? Or Berlusconi himself?

[u/_Mr_Guohua_ → u/Nirocalden]

Yeah, Schulz should play the role

[u/Alexthegreatbelgian]

"Alors enfants de la Patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivé...!"

Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of Belgium, when asked to sing the Belgian national anthem.

[u/Eimeck → u/Alexthegreatbelgian]

I don’t speak French but even I know it should be „Allons enfants…“

… in France, at least.

[u/Chernomobil420 → u/Alexthegreatbelgian]

Wa nen dalk van ne premier was dat zelfs. Echt beschamend gewoon.

[u/cyrassil]

Oh that one time when president of you country says shit so dumb that Putin (at the time standing next to him) had to tone him down: https://english.radio.cz/czech-president-sparks-outrage-comments-about-journalists-8192845

“More journalists? There are too many journalists. They should be liquidated” the Czech president said, turning to the Russian leader. Mr. Putin kept his cool, giving a polite smile and noting that “liquidation” was unnecessary; their numbers could just be restricted.

[u/LilaBadeente]

„The sun has fallen from the sky“. Vice-regional president of Carinthia the day the regional president of Carinthia, Jörg Haider, one of the early adopter aggressive populists and very divisive figure in Austrian politics for years, had wrapped himself and his car around a concrete fence with an alcohol blood level of 1,6‰, killing himself in the process.

[u/Fluffy-Republic8610]

Ireland's eu commissioner Padraig Flynn famously fucked up on air.

From the audience, journalist Barry O’Halloran asks Pádraig Flynn (EU commissioner for social affairs in 1999) about his pay and expenses. Flynn acknowledges he is very well paid and calculates he earns about £100,000 net. However, this amount is necessary to fund his lifestyle.

"I run a home in Dublin, Castlebar and Brussels. I wanna tell you something, try it sometime when you have a couple of cars and three houses and three homes and a few housekeepers."

The "try it sometime" quote has become famous. Not least on r/Ireland 🙂

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2018/1219/1018097-front-running-politician-pee-flynn/

[u/GavUK → u/Fluffy-Republic8610]

Not the first and certainly not the last politician (of any country) to show just how out-of-touch they are with the majority of people's financial situations. You can only hope that electors show them the door at the next election...

[u/Fluffy-Republic8610 → u/GavUK]

This incident was 26 years ago. And by that stage he was already finished. Retired off to the EU commission.

[u/TropicalLuddite]

Chávez once said he thought there used to be life in Mars, but capitalism destroyed everything and left behind the barren land we see now. 

His successor Maduro claimed that he communicated with Chávez’s ghost who appeared to him in the form as a bird. 

[u/tereshkovavalentina]

In 2008, the Prime Minister / Governor of Bavaria, Günther Beckstein, claimed that you can still drive a car after drinking 2 liters of beer. Not sure if most bizarre but people still joke about this almost 20 years later.

[u/Lordy927]

"Wer nicht arbeitet, soll auch nicht essen", sagte Franz Müntering 2006.

"Who doesn't work, shouldn't eat". This one stuck with me, as it was very tone-deaf coming from a supposedly left-wing politician.

[u/Gingy2210 → u/Lordy927]

Very similar to what the Nazis said about disabled people - useless eaters.

[u/Weary_Highway_8472 → u/Lordy927]

That is from the Bible. In one of the letters from Paul

[u/Curios_Cephalopod → u/Lordy927]

Lenin said the same once, it's apparently also in the bible

[u/sinuhe_t]

One guy after losing the election went on an angry rant where he said that the entire country is worthless and it's people should be exterminated in Auschwitz. I don't think anyone could top that.

[u/Hot-Disaster-9619 → u/sinuhe_t]

LOL exactly the same case in Poland :D There was one guy, his name was Stonoga, and after he got barely any votes for parliament elections he said EXACTLY that about Poles.

Edit: Ok, I didn't notice that you were actually referencing to Poland

[u/sinuhe_t → u/Hot-Disaster-9619]

Uhh, click the link.

[u/OllieV_nl → u/sinuhe_t]

Flair up, that prevents misunderstandings :)

[u/Nirocalden]

"As far as I know... effective immediately, without delay." ("Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis... ist das sofort... unverzüglich.")

Günter Schabowski, on 9 November 1989, inadvertently breaks down the Berlin Wall all by himself.

---

"The internet is new/uncharted territory for all of us" ("Das Internet ist für uns alle Neuland")

Guess in which year Angela Merkel said this sentence. 2013

[u/annesche → u/Nirocalden]

I directly thought of the Schabowski quote, too, and the "Neuland"-quote is really a gem!

[u/Milosz0pl]

I feel like in Poland we have unfair advantage in this contest

Janusz Korwin-Mikke [far right ex-politician that got kicked out from own party]

• ,,There was a man who wanted Polish children to have a better life – his name was Adolf Hitler."
• Heiling in europarlament and screaming ,,Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Euro"
• ,,I've lived to see the times when they're telling me to be glad that Germany has changed its constitution and can now arm itself without restrictions. We'll find ourselves between Germany armed to the teeth and Ukraine. Check the map fools. Poland does NOT lie between Germany and Russia—at most, between Russia and Slovakia. It lies between Germany and Ukraine—powerful allied states with territorial claims against us. Behind these states, we should have allies: France and Russia."

Grzegorz Braun (his talking is too long so I will just sum things up) [far right politician that got kicked out from far-right coalition]

• Analysing whether Yoda from star wars is a jew
• Saying that Aushwitz is fake
• At the presidential debate - Going on a whole rant how oficer carries a handgun not to shoot at enemies from trenches, but to execute rowdy subordinate and to end own life

Krzysztof Bosak [far-right politician]

• as a response to a post about animal skins:
  • ,,It is allowed. If it was evil then God would have created world in another way"

Magdalena Maria-Żukowska [left politician]

• ,,There are situations, where biological male gives birth."

[u/_MusicJunkie → u/Milosz0pl]

Nazis in Poland really are among the most bizarre people.

[u/Milosz0pl → u/_MusicJunkie]

At the very least those idiots make things more lively.

[u/Socmel_]

One of our cabinet members, Maria Stella Gelmini, said that we built a tunnel for neutrinos under the Gran Sasso Underground Research Center (east of Rome) and linking it to CERN in Geneva. The most hilarious thing? She was the Minister for public education and universities.

[u/TheBonk92]

Belgium had a prime minister that started singing La Marseillaise when asked to quote the national anthem.

[u/juanxmass]

Nicolas Sarkozy, former French President :

C’est pas parce que vous voulez renverser la table que vous descendez de la voiture dont vous vous abstenez de choisir le chauffeur

Translated with deepl :

Just because you want to overturn the table doesn't mean you get out of the car without choosing the driver.

I do not know what he was talking about, and I do not know what it meant...

Believe me, it's not from JCVD

[u/Albon123]

One of our politicians at the ruling party literally stated that poor people are worth absolutely nothing, because they “don’t work hard enough”

This wasn’t really him complaining about chronically unemployed people, or just a misunderstood moment took out of context, he was quite literally stating this when asked about poor people, not even just people who actually don’t work, but just poor people in general

Edit: Hang on, I totally forgot about another Fidesz politician who randomly, out of nowhere started talking about how there is a possibility that “he will go insane, grab a Kalashnikov and shoot everyone in the room. Then I will pull out my atomic rocket, bomb the Parliament, and swim down the Black Sea in a diver’s suit and destroy the entire wildlife at the Danube Delta”

That is…. probably more insane

[u/Adept_Command_6450 → u/Albon123]

My favourite is the married and virulent anti-LGTQ Fidesz MEP who - during Covid lockdowns - is spotted fleeing a Brussels police raid of a gay gangbang, shining down a drainpipe. After he was arrested for breaking Covid lock down rules and found to have certain party stimulants in his pockets the very same man says: "The police said an ecstasy pill was found. It was not mine, I don't know who planted it or how. I made a statement to the police about this."

[u/krmarci → u/Albon123]

Who are these from?

[u/Albon123 → u/krmarci]

First is Lázár János, second is Kósa Lajos

[u/Vaclavus]

In 2018 Petr Cibulka said in pre-election TV debate "Hot phase of world war 3 will begin in europe in year 2025, 2026 last american soldiers will leave europe and in year 2027 NATO will fall apart." His sideric pendulum gave him this info... together with info about most of Czech, european and NATO officials being infiltrated by russian KGB-FSB-GRU agents.

https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/aktivista-disident-petr-cibulka-kyvadlo-predpoved-treti-svetova-valka-2025.A250307_100251_domaci_vank

It stopped being so funny lately ;) Anyway yeah - he is such a bizarre and interesting figure of our politics. He has a very small party, never made it into parliament in 30 years. He was a dissident before 1989, in totalitarian, communist Czechoslovakia and never really recovered from it, specially from witnessing old commie opportunists turning sides and starting successful democratic politic careers and businesses in the 1990s.

[u/Front-Anteater3776]

Lmao  Hillary ffs 😭😫 “how do you do fellow kids” moment 

“If we come from monkeys, why are there still monkeys to this day? And when do they become human again?(Naser Khader)

“We haven’t made money, we’ve made women” (Lars Løkke Rasmussen)

“I am in the beginning of my period” (Helle Degn)

[u/Above-and_below → u/Front-Anteater3776]

Our Minister of Justice said in 2021 that surveillance creates more safety, and more safety means more freedom, so surveillance is equal to freedom. The Social Democrats are still going with it.

[u/Front-Anteater3776 → u/Above-and_below]

Ja klart! Scary 😩

[u/gonefishingdk → u/Above-and_below]

‘2000 Danish krones… that’s just a couple of shoes’ LLR 2013🇩🇰

[u/EvilPyro01 → u/Above-and_below]

Freedom is slavery. Slavery is freedom type shit

[u/holytriplem → u/Front-Anteater3776]

If we come from monkeys, why are there still monkeys to this day?

That's a very common argument Creationists like to come out with. I know cause I had a primary school teacher come out with it and even as a 9 year old I had no trouble debunking it

[u/Nirocalden → u/holytriplem]

"If all the (non-native) Americans came from Europe and Africa, why are there still people in Europe and Africa?"

[u/Rooilia → u/Front-Anteater3776]

Shiny Denmark example statue just fell from my cupboard. Usually only good news come out of Denmark - in my eyes.

[u/Grouchy_Fan_2236]

There will be protests. Let them protest in front of the Parliament. Sooner or later they'll get bored of it and will go home.

Ferenc Gyurcsány, socialist PM, 2006. Ironically protesters didn't really go home and the government had to resign 3 years later. Never foreshadow your own fate.

[u/Ok-Sandwich-364]

DUP politician famously attempted to take the piss out of the Irish language by standing in the chamber and saying “Curry my yoghurt can coca coalyer.” The actual phrase in Irish is “Go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle” and means Thank You Speaker.

Irish speaking politicians often say it before they speak but this was his attempt to mock it as he would he very much anti-Irish anything.

Another DUP MEP stood up in the European Parliament in 1988 and heckled the pope during a speech he was making, called him the anti-Christ and got dragged out of the room screaming bits from the bible.

I’m not saying it’s just the DUP that say stupid stuff but they’d be at the top of the leaderboard.

[u/Oghamstoner → u/Ok-Sandwich-364]

I always find the DUP quite ironic. They say they don’t believe in dinosaurs and yet, there they are!

[u/Comfortable-Bonus421]

Ireland’s Taoiseach (PM) Bertie Ahern said that people moaning about the economy should go and suicide themselves, just months before the economic crash which did lead to a huge increase in suicides.

His exact quote: “Sitting on the sidelines, cribbing and moaning is a lost opportunity. I don't know how people who engage in that don't commit suicide”

He’s been a persona non-grata in Ireland since the crash (and even before because of various scandals), and now the bastard thinks he has a chance in our Presidential election.

[u/MrDilbert → u/Comfortable-Bonus421]

His exact quote: “Sitting on the sidelines, cribbing and moaning is a lost opportunity. I don't know how people who engage in that don't commit suicide”

Probably meaning "Better to try and do something than complain", but expressed with all the grace and elegance of an elephant dancing in a china shop.

[u/sohereiamacrazyalien]

I can't remember who said this. he said that during a speech

when I took office we were on the edge of a precipice , thanks to all our efforts we finally could step forward!

lol

[u/glamatovic]

"Your daughter will catch a cold wearing a cleavage like that!" - Incumbent president Marcelo Rebelo Sousa

"Yesterday was yesterday, today is a new day, look at the sky, it's so beautiful" - António Costa

"I never have doubts and I'm rarely wrong" - Cavaco Silva, who now says he has doubts he even said that

"I'm sick of playing around! I've been kidnapped twice, it's enough, I don't like being kidnapped, it's something that annoys me, man" - José Pinheiro de Azevedo, who also invented the idiom "Bardamerda" (kinda translatable to "screw that")

"It would be good to have 6 months without democracy. we fix everything and then bring democracy back" - Manuela Ferreira Leite

[u/cutielemon07]

That rambling rant Boris Johnson went on about Peppa Pig World, including this; “I loved it. Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place. It has very safe streets, discipline in schools, heavy emphasis on new mass transit systems. Even if they’re a bit stereotypical about Daddy Pig.” He also described Peppa Pig as “a Picasso-like hairdryer”, and imitated car noises.

[u/baggymitten → u/cutielemon07]

I mean to be fair I’d never heard the bit about Peppa Pig looking like “a Picasso-like hairdryer” before and now I don’t think I’ll ever be able to unsee it. Fair call!

Boris is still a massive nosher though!

[u/Thorbork]

« Be you, be p...proud of you ... because you can be do... what we want to do »

François Hollande trying to speak English in 2013.

[u/HughLauriePausini]

Mariastella Gelmini, Italian Minister for Education and Scientific Research, 2011:

I extend my approval and my sincerest congratulations to the authors of a historical experiment. I am deeply grateful to all the Italian researchers who contributed to this event that will change the face of modern physics.

Exceeding the speed of light is an epochal victory for scientific research around the world.

And it gets worse

Italy has contributed to the construction of the tunnel between CERN and Gran Sasso Laboratories [in central Italy, ndr], through which the experiment took place, with a sum now estimated at around 45 million euros.

[u/DrMon15]

Portugal politicians are quite colourful in words and gestures but one almost cute happened some years ago when we had a sizeable quantity of weapons disappear from an army depot. We're talking guns, bullets, grenades, mortar rounds... On a semi relaxed radio show the then defense minister says:

"We are not sure if anyone has gone into the depot. In effect, maybe there was no robbery at all."

This unearthed just how crazy the security set up was. Weekly inventories that were copied over many months, no CCTV, broken fences... Then the minister of a NATO country doesn't know IF war material was stolen. Complete shambles.

Cherry on top? Local police get a tip to go to a place some 300 kms south of the depot and they recover MORE weapons than those that were initially robbed. Some guys took the blame (one even confessed he stashed explosives in his granny's house) but we never got to the bottom of what really happened.

[u/Sir_Bax]

Idk, I feel like I'd have easier time to just list non-bizzare things they said than to pick the most bizzare one from that endless pool of bullshit they keep saying.

[u/SpiderDK1]

We have a lot of memes:

"Make your face more relaxed, you will not get money with such ugly face from anyone"

"Not just only everyone can look into tomorrow"

"I will multiply you on zero"

[u/jjjjj-1 → u/SpiderDK1]

Also

MP: „Kittens and puppies can’t buy food in kittens stores”

President: „We need to make territory of Ukraine… dangerous”

Mayor: „Kyiv citizens should prepare to the soil”

[u/K41M1K4ZE]

Julia Klöckner is a corrupt, german polititian (now sadly president of the Bundestag) and Nestlé was one of her favorite dicks to suck.

She once said that reducing the sugar in soft drinks wouldn't change anything, because people would just add the reduced sugar at home again.

[u/PrinceFan72]

Pretty much anything Boris Johnson said. Ask him a direct question? Get fluff and Churchill or Shakespeare or butchered Latin in return. Twat.

[u/hetevhor]

“La Lega Nord ce l’ha duro! Duro! Duro!” Umberto Bossi, 1996

“The Northern League (political party)has a hard…” You know what, I think you get the gist.

[u/jatawis]

Vytautas Šustauskas, former mayor of Kaunas:

• if not for the Germans, I might have shined the shoes of the Jews in Liberty Avenue
• it would be no secret if I told you that Jews own all the world's capital. <...> They know money
• it (the Armenian National Assembly) started working differently when they came and blew a few of them away on the spot

Former Social Democrat MP, Vilnius vice-mayor, assistant top EU accession negotiator and now imprisoned spy for Russia, Algirdas Paleckis:

• they promised us Sweden, but the banana republic came out. I will add: only instead of dictators – clowns

Viktor Uspaskich, former minister of Economy, leader of the Labour Party and MEP, also a convicted criminal:

• published a free access book titled "My Sicknesses and Enemies - My Greatest Teachers", in which he stated that his then-wife Jolanta violates "the laws of the Universe" by using too much masculine "solar energy", as opposed to feminine "lunar energy". He also claimed that greenhouse grown vegetables lack taste as they lack this alleged "lunar energy", and recommends sexual abstinence to men to protect their intelligence
• In a 2019 interview with TV host Kristina Rimienė, Uspaskich claimed that he has ascended to "another layer" and attempted to study the TV host's "frequency" by holding her hand

[u/EYOK-2]

I was thinking about which politician to chose and then I remembered a weird beef beween Jim Carrey and Alessandra Mussolini ahahahahaah She was already in politics. She got mad because he made a cartoon about her criminal grandpa. One of the weirdest interactions ever

[u/Numerous_Honeydew489]

“ I ain't spending any time on it because every three months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in north Queensland."

Australian MP Bob Katter after same-sex marriage was legalised in 2017

[u/Tortoveno]

"It is not the first time I have an erection."

• Józef Zych, vice speaker of Polish Sejm, Polish Sejm 2005

[u/HearingDifficult7143]

I cannot choose neither do I remember. I spent most of my life under Viktor Orbáns "reign" in Hungary 😂😂

[u/DiggimonUKR]

One of our previous presidents once said "The best genocides of the country have assembled here... Yeah, and the gene pool, too."

[u/SisterLostSoul]

That was truly awful. I know she was told that she had to "lighten up" and be more "likeable" and that's a problem with politics in the US. I don't need my government officials to be funny; I don't want to sit down and have a beer with them. I want them to be smart and knowledgeable and to understand how government works and the effects of policies on the average person. Hilary had all that, but she was deemed "cold" and "impersonal," and that's just unacceptable in a politician - not to mention a woman - in the US.

[u/krmarci]

We've had Italian brainrot memes posted by the government in the last year. Probably not the most bizarre, but it is certainly on the list.

[u/AwkwardEvanescence]

Last year the then minister of Asylum and Migration answered a question about a controversial policy with: I am policy.

This of course reminded everyone of the famous quote by Palpatine in Star Wars Episode 3: I am the Senate.

[u/LilaBadeente → u/AwkwardEvanescence]

L‘état, c‘est moi! (Louis XIV.)

[u/OllieV_nl → u/AwkwardEvanescence]

And this is the lady that kept insisting "my tweet is correct" after she blamed a knife attack on an asylum seeker.

This was after the local mayor, the local police, the local DA, the victims, and I think even a relative of the perpetrator, called her out on her bullshit. No, she had a source and she was correct.

How her career there didn't end it beyond me.

[u/bigvalen]

Many years ago, an Irish Wicklow County Councillor, Jimmy Miley, attended during a meeting regarding Blessington Lake. When the meeting proposed putting a gondola on the lake, he remarked: "That's all very well, but who's going to feed it?"

It was regarded as so hilarious that they later made a political satire TV show called "Don't feed the Gondolas ".

[u/thebprince]

Long time ago someone in Ireland had a plan to put gondolas on some lakes, as a tourist attraction. There were some planning issues I believe and it ended up being discussed at a country council meeting leading ones of our genius councillors to question who would be responsible for feeding them🤣

More recently there was a big protest movement against water charges, leading another one or geniuses to rant that water "doesn't just fall from the sky you know"

[u/Witty_Jello_8470]

Health Minister of south Africa (some years ago); HIV ans AIDs are not related, and eating red beets can cure you. The president saying that he took a shower after having sex with a prostitute and not being worried about AIDS.

[u/Irrealaerri]

"Nach meiner Kenntnis ist das sofort, unverzüglich!" Walter Ulbricht accidentally opening the Berlin wall.

[u/Planet_Pluto_1925]

Mariano Rajoy in Spain has several, some a little untranslatable, if they sound strange to you, he said them like this, at some point people came to the question of whether he had had a stroke that no one knew anything about or he was simply a very nervous man: "I will do everything I can and a little more than I can if that is possible, and I will do everything possible and even the impossible if the impossible is also possible"

"It is the mayor who wants the neighbors to be the mayor"

"We must manufacture machines that allow us to continue manufacturing machines, because what the machine will never do is manufacture machines"

"His entire political project is summed up in a maxim: the worse the better for everyone and the worse for everyone the better, the better for me is yours. Political benefit"

For me the best were: "It is one thing to be supportive and another thing to be supportive in exchange for nothing." "The Spanish are very Spanish and very Spanish"

[u/Spinoza42]

"Ik ben beleid" Marjolein Faber

It means "I am policy", and in Dutch it sounds even more inherently nonsensical than in English. This is the context:

Faber: ‘Ja, maar mensen zijn het wel met meer dingen niet eens.’ Bremer: ‘Besluit u dit dan gewoon zelfstandig?’ Faber: ‘Ik ben de minister en ik voer het beleid uit.’ Bremer: ‘Maar dit is toch geen beleid? Dit is volgens mij een idee van u?’ Faber: ‘Maar ik ben beleid.’

[u/Empty-Blacksmith-592]

The most bizarre? Not need to list any, but a name: Silvio Berlusconi. He said a lot of bizarre things to embarrass himself and the whole country.

[u/Against_All_Advice]

"It's not easy you know, a house in Castlebar, a house in Dublin, a house in Brussels, three cars, three house keepers... Try it sometime."

Ended his career with that gem. Speaking to a pre Celtic tiger Irish population who were still suffering from the deep recession of the 80s. He's still regularly quoted when people are out of touch, you'll see Irish people comment "try it sometime" on out of touch posts.

[u/carlosdsf]

The yes needs the no to win against the no, Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/i09084568/jean-pierre-raffarin-the-yes-needs-the-no-to-win-against-the-no

[u/Thatwierdhullcityfan]

Liz Truss. Anything that she says is just bizarre. There’s a reason she was only prime minister for 50 days

[u/VladimireUncool]

Don't remember specifically who said it, but during a debate a politician from Enhedslisten suggested that we all turn off the heat at winter and just use blankets instead so we could stop global warming.

[u/coeurdelejon]

Another Swede answered correctly so I'll just point out that although Hillary Clinton is cringe, Trump says more bizarre things on a daily basis

[u/notaspy1234]

"Olivia says i want to eat her pussy, thats not true ive got enough to eat at home"

• Toronto Mayor, Doug Crackhead Ford. RIP

I dont care what anyone says this has to take the cake. It was said to reporters.

[u/SitamoiaRose]

“Let’s be clear, I’m wealthy and I’m sorted,” was one from our prime minister - too bad about the rest of us.

On complaints about the horrid school lunches that were being delivered to schools (some arriving with the plastic off the container melted into the food), his response was "make a marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag" overlooking completely that for some of our poorest families, that school lunch was the meal of the day for those kids.

He’ll never be accused of being in touch with lower income earners.

[u/DarknessIsFleeting]

Prime Minister of the UK 🇬🇧 Boris Johnson.

And the other thing is.... Erm... Hang on.... Erm. I am sorry I seem to have lost my place in the notes, ha ha ha. Yes. Has anyone here ever been to Peppa Pig world? You should do, it's fantastic. Peppa pig world!

[u/Dr_Hull]

Op ad brøndens klare vand trækker jeg min tissemand

Den er slimet, den er snasket

Den har Grete lige vasket

From the clear waters of the well I'm pulling my penis.

It's slimy, it's gooy (not sure how to spell that)

It has just been washed by Grete

Said from the speaker's chair of the Danish Parliament.

It is a refreshed version of an old Danish children's song. The member of parliament didn't like the version children were actually singing (when they didn't have to sing the original version because adults have no humor). Recited by a very offended member of parliament about 10 years after the first time I heard that version as a kid.

In the kids version the next line was

Den har alle pigerne gnaske (all the girls have cheved it)

[u/AWonderlustKing]

"In your mind, how did (the economy) get to this point in Latvia? What happened?"

"I think, uhh... nothing special!"

• Atis Slakteris, Latvia's Finance Minister, being interviewed about the state of Latvian economy and borrowing money from the EU.

"My answer will be, but I will not say." From the same interview is also a banger of a quote.

[u/Predrag26]

"I believe that God above is in charge of the weather and that we here can't do anything about it."

Danny Healy-Rae a national politician said this on the record in the Dáil, our national parliament. It's my favourite bizarre one anyway!

Just for some context, publicly denying the existence of Climate Change would be an extremely fringe position in Ireland. 

Edit: He also once tried to say that eating a big dinner was liable to make you fall asleep while driving and that having a drink was basically no different. 

[u/GrodanHej]

Another funny moment was when member of Parliament Margareta Sandstedt (SD) claimed that €400.000 equals 40 thousand billion (40.000.000.000.000) SEK. (One Euro was worth about 10 SEK at the time).

https://youtu.be/Rig4gD1d6Bs

[u/[deleted]]

From Iceland.

Our former president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson in 2014 was giving a speech, and he made a remark about how Iceland could become the “world's first solar powered country”… sounds nice, but Iceland’s weather isn’t exactly ideal for that. It’s often cloudy, rainy, and dark in winter, so it was just a bit of an "oops" moment, considering our very limited sunshine. He also said it non jokingly, like he hadn’t just suggested we might harness solar energy from the Northern Lights or something.