EU Parliament condemns (far-right) Polish lawmaker's anti-Semitic brochure

EU Parliament condemns Polish lawmaker's brochure, labeled anti-Semitic by Jewish organizations
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Associated Press
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BRUSSELS, Belgium--The European Parliament has condemned the publication by a Polish extreme-right deputy of a brochure that Jewish organizations have labeled as being anti-Semitic.
The 32-page booklet, published by independent EU lawmaker Maciej Marian Giertych, describes the Jewish people as a "tragic community" preferring to live a separate life "in apartheid from the surrounding communities."
The booklet, available online on Giertych's personal Web site, is a treatise on the differences between the Latin, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab civilizations. It classifies them according to race, language, religion and other criteria.
The European Jewish Congress said the text is anti-Semitic and threatened to bring Giertych to court. It asked the Polish government to strip the lawmaker of his parliamentary immunity so he can be sued.
European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering said he was "greatly disturbed" by the brochure, titled Civilizations at War in Europe, which bears the logo of the European Parliament. He said the EU assembly did not help finance the booklet.
A spokesman for Poettering said Tuesday the European Parliament could review how the legislature's logo is being used to prevent deputies from associating their private views with the assembly.
Other Polish lawmakers said they found the brochure shocking and harmful to the image of Poland.
"This is in an absolute contradiction with a democratic Poland, open to multicultural cooperation," Polish members of the Liberal Democratic group said in a statement.
Giertych, who is a member of the ultraconservative League of Polish Families and father of Poland's Education Minister Roman Giertych, was not immediately available for comment.
Last year, Giertych praised the regimes of late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar, triggering an angry reaction from fellow parliamentarians.
German Socialist leader Martin Schulz called his speech "fascist."
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