EU:The European Commission has been forced to defend industry commissioner Günter Verheugen following claims by a German newspaper that it had unearthed nude pictures of him with his female chief of staff.
The photographs were taken while Mr Verheugen and his chief of staff, Petra Erler, enjoyed a private holiday together in August at a beach in Lithuania.
The snapshots show Mr Verheugen wearing only a white baseball cap with Ms Erler naked, according to the newspaper Bild, which did not publish any of the photographs in its report.
Mr Verheugen, who is married, appointed Ms Erler to her post as head of cabinet in April, a promotion which increased her monthly salary to €11,579 from €9,045.
His relationship with Ms Erler has come under media scrutiny since a photograph showing the pair holding hands and hugging while on holiday in Lithuania was published last month by three German newspapers.
A spokesman for commission president José Manuel Barroso said yesterday that Mr Verheugen's relationships were a "private matter, not one of public interest".
Bild, which is Germany's biggest selling daily, said that Focusmagazine had obtained the nude photographs and was deciding whether to publish them.
Mr Verheugen is one of the most senior EU commissioners, who served as enlargement commissioner from 1999 to 2004.