DECLASSIFIED
Coronavirus
warning: Do not touch a politician
You know
things are bad when senior officials are refusing to shake hands.
By PAUL
DALLISON 3/6/20, 4:30 AM CET
German
Interor Minister Horst Seehofer declined a handshake from Chancellor Angela
Merkel during a March 2, 2020 meeting | John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images
Welcome to
Declassified, a weekly column looking at the lighter side of politics.
Don't
panic! Don't panic! No, sorry. Panic! Panic!
Yes, the
coronavirus outbreak has reached the highest warning level of all: Code Dread
(or When European Politicians Can't Shake Each Other's Hands). The European
Commission is believed to be setting up a steering group and drawing up a
non-paper right now.
Things are
bad and have reached the very highest levels. This week we saw German
Chancellor Angela Merkel offer a handshake to her interior minister, Horst
Seehofer, who politely declined lest the most powerful politician in Europe
infect him. Has no one told her about the "Wuhan shake," in which
people use a foot-to-foot greeting in order to keep their hands away from each
other?
Then the
start of the Brexit talks in Brussels saw the two sides' lead negotiators —
Michel Barnier and David Frost — agree not to shake hands because they can't
stand each other of coronavirus. Of course, it could just have been Barnier
refusing to touch Frost as the latter had, according to British media reports,
enjoyed a full English breakfast to set him up for the day and may have been
covered in grease.
In France,
Health Minister Olivier Véran urged people to stop la bise, or kissing people
on both cheeks to say hello or goodbye. The practice has already proven popular
with former Paris mayoral candidate Benjamin Griveaux, who prefers touching
himself.
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