'Were you expecting martians?' EU presidency asks

[underpants]

'Were you expecting martians?' EU presidency asks

4 days ago

BRUSSELS (AFP) — Pressed as to why the speakers at an EU summit press conference comprised of six men and no women, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek gave a reply that was out of this world on Thursday.

"Why, were you expecting martians?" he asked his interlocutor as he shared the table with EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and four other male worthies.

Topolanek, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, had no more to say on the subject, as the press conference descended into laughter.

However his Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek then offered an apology of sorts.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5huz00JDiPAK9YOx-37Mlu0kXj5Ew

[drm604]

1. That reply doesn't even make sense.

I have to wonder if there was a language problem.

[underpants]

2. TODAY--Czech Premier Topolanek Loses No-Confidence Vote

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=ajJyT98Puqr4&refer=europe

March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek lost a no-confidence vote after coalition and independent lawmakers backed the opposition’s bid to make him the latest political victim of the global economic crisis.

The opposition Social Democrats and Communists got 101 out of 197 votes in the 200-seat lower house of parliament today. Topolanek’s government, currently head of the European Union’s six-month rotating presidency, will stay in power until President Vaclav Klaus appoints a new administration or early elections are held.

“Most likely the Cabinet will function through rest of the EU presidency and there will be talks on what will happen next,” said Vit Hlousek, a political scientist in Prague. “It’s clear that there will be early elections” but “it’s not clear when. A realistic time is the fall of 2009.”

Topolanek, who took office after an election in 2006 as the head of a three-party Cabinet, lost the vote as the economy heads toward a recession and government spending plans are under pressure. The coalition struggled to govern as it relied on independent or opposition lawmakers for a majority. It was able to push through some tax and health-care changes, though not the wide-ranging overhaul it promised.

[crikkett]

3. Well Men *are* from Mars...

and the problem may not have been so much with language as with assitude.

[Motown_Johnny]

9. He seems to be implying that if you were expecting to see women you may as well be

expecting to see martians, because there was no way either one had a chance of being there.

[HERVEPA]

4. This is the guy that denies global warming, right?

[damntexdem]

5. No, the Spanish Inquisition.

For that matter, perhaps they were expecting a head of state who wouldn't lose a no-confidence vote.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. But... but... NO ONE expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Off to the comfy chair with you!

[thereismore]

6. Put on its head: if you think men and women are equal, it should not worry you that

there were no women. Or men, as the case may be.

[niyad]

8. except we know that isn't the case here--or anywhere else, for that matter.