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🇭🇷🇩🇪 Croatian FM Gordan Grlic-Radman made an awkward attempt to kiss his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock at the EU ministerial summit in Berlin

Balkans media and netizens heavily criticized the episode and even branded it ‘sexual harassment’.

Source: @geopolitics_live pic.twitter.com/J0Jg7dI9Kt

— Zlatti71 (@djuric_zlatko) November 4, 2023

Croatia’s foreign minister sparked controversy after he was caught awkwardly trying to kiss his German counterpart during a group photo Thursday.

Gordan Grlic Radman, 65, simultaneously reached out to shake Annalena Baerbock’s hand and leaned in for her lips during a photo shoot for the European Union conference in Berlin.

Baerbock, 42, politely offered Grlic Radman her cheek and turned straight toward the cameras before uncomfortably giggling, video of the cringey encounter shows.

After the photo shoot ends, Baerbock takes a step away from Grlic Radman and turns to talk to someone behind him, while the Croatian politician keeps his eyes glued on her.

None of the other dozens of foreign chiefs seemed phased by the kiss, but prominent leaders and social media users sounded off, calling Grlic Radman’s actions shameful.

After the photo shoot ends, Baerbock takes a step away from Grlic Radman and turns to talk to someone behind him, while the Croatian politician keeps his eyes glued on her.

Prominent Croatian women’s rights activist Rada Boric slammed the minister’s move as “highly inappropriate,” adding that “warm greetings” were out of place for the professional relationship.

“It’s clear that such a relationship doesn’t exist here and that the (German) minister was left surprised with such closeness,” Boric told local outlet Jutarnji List.

Former Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor slammed Grlic Radman in a post on X, without directly mentioning his name or the incident itself.

“Kissing women violently is also called violence, isn’t it?” she wrote.

Other local outlets blasted the incident as “sexual harassment.”

Grlic Radman shrugged off the criticism, claiming he was only trying to greet his counterpart.

“I don’t know what the problem was … We always greet each other warmly. It is a warm human approach to a colleague,” he told reporters according to Barron’s.