Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman tries to kiss his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in this photo taken at the EU foreign ministers' meeting
The clip, posted by AFP on November 4, shows Mr. Radman, 65, grabbing Ms. Baerbock, 42, by the hand and trying to kiss her. The German foreign minister quickly reacted by turning her face away.
The incident occurred while foreign ministers attending the European Union (EU) conference in Berlin (Germany) were standing in position for the traditional group photo.
Bild newspaper said the embarrassing situation occurred because Mr Radman arrived late after the other foreign ministers had exchanged kisses. Members of Mr Baerbock's delegation assured them that the incident was just "a clumsy gesture to greet each other quickly".
However, the clip quickly spread online and led to unfavorable opinions towards the Croatian Foreign Minister, especially among public opinion in his country.
Jutarnji List , Croatia's leading newspaper, headlined the incident as "Shameful" and insisted that Mr Radman should apologise to his female counterpart.
"Isn't forcibly kissing a woman also called violence?", former Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor wrote on X (Twitter 's name).
Ivana Kekin, a member of the Croatian parliament's gender equality committee, said what happened once again showed that Mr Radman "lacks diplomatic skills, knowledge of basic protocol and protocol".
Faced with criticism, Mr Radman said "if anyone found this inappropriate, I apologise", but maintained that there was nothing unusual about kissing the German Foreign Minister as recently happened.
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