Throughout his time in office, Oettinger regularly made headlines for his comments on constituent EU member countries' economic situations. In remarks published by German media in May 2013, he expressed doubts about France's economic recovery and said "too many in Europe still believe that everything will be fine." France, he said, "is completely unprepared to do what’s necessary," while Italy, Bulgaria and Romania "are essentially ungovernable." Oettinger has also repeatedly been in conflict with the German government. In an interview with "Die Welt" in 2014, he criticized the German Federal Government's plan to allow longer-serving employees to retire at the age of 63 for the message this sent to cash-strapped peripheral eurozone states like Greece, Spain and Portugal.