His party may have suffered a massive blow in the recent elections, but that doesn’t mean that Jeroen Dijsselbloem would stand in silence. Instead, the Dutch Finance Minister, who also serves as head of the Eurogroup, went on to make some incendiary comments, that were met with anger throughout Europe.

Speaking to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mr Dijsselbloem said: “During the crisis of the euro, the countries of the North have shown solidarity with the countries affected by the crisis. As a Social Democrat, I attribute exceptional importance to solidarity. [But] you also have obligations. You can not spend all the money on drinks and women and then ask for help.”

This statement attracted the irate response from an array of politicians from Spain, Italy and Greece: “I do not think that Portugal, Greece, Cyprus or Ireland have wasted money,” said Spain’s Finance Minister, Luis de Guindos. “They lent us $40billion, but we have lent other countries a similar amount and making such comparisons is not ideal.”

Gabriel Mato, a Spanish MEP, said the remarks were “absolutely unacceptable” and an “insult” to southern member states – claiming he had lost his neutrality as finance chief.

Gianni Pittella, the Italian MEP who leads the European Socialist group, called for Mr Dijsselbloem to resign, saying he is “not fit to be president of the Eurogroup”.

Mr. Dijsselbloem will, in all probability, lose his position as Finance Minister, after the elections result, but this does not mean that he is willing to retract his statement. Despite all the backlash, he refused to apologise.