Timmermans uses the suffering of others to make his own political portfolio more important | Columns

European Commissioner Frans Timmermans wants an annual commemoration for climate victims. He mentions the 220 victims of the floods in Germany and Belgium last year, and gives a face to the sadness by saying that a daughter of his close colleague died in that flood, while his own daughter recently celebrated her sixteenth birthday. “Rosa will never be able to celebrate her sixteenth birthday, and that breaks my heart.” Timmermans wants the climate day on the anniversary of Rosa’s death, 14 July.