European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has apologised for dismissive comments about youth climate activists reported by Spanish media in an about-turn a few months into his role as top EU diplomat.
In comments broadcast online by the Antena 3 broadcaster, Mr Borrell said he doubted "the idea that young people are seriously committed to stopping climate change - we could call it the 'Greta syndrome'".
He said people were happy to take to the streets if it cost them nothing while questioning whether demonstrators were prepared to reduce their quality of life to pay for the high cost of combating climate change.
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a Swiss protest. Source: ABACA
Climate change is a priority issue for the European Commission, of which Mr Borrell is a vice president.
"I want to apologise to anyone that may have felt offended by my inappropriate reference to the important youth movement fighting #climatechange," Mr Borrell wrote on Twitter on Saturday while returning from a visit to the United States.
His original remarks were met with strong criticism on Twitter.
The Greens in the European Parliament called the comments "unacceptable" for someone who represents the EU and promised to confront Borrell on the issue.
Borrell appeared to backtrack on Friday, when he posted on Twitter that "youth movements to fight climate change have my full support and inspire politicians and societies".
"Climate change is one of (the) biggest geopolitical challenges, we can't afford costs of inaction," he added, while noting that "to be successful, we also need to tackle social and economic costs of the transition".
The 72-year-old veteran Spanish politician, who started his current role on December 1, has a reputation for making undiplomatic remarks.
