Giertych reprimanded by EU parliament

STRASBOURG: Polish MEP Maciej Giertych will be given an unprecedented official reprimand for publishing an antisemitic pamphlet that incorporated the European parliament's logo.

Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering announced sanctions against Giertych during the Strasbourg plenary session on 14 March – though the exact penalty is yet to be determined.

The move follows Giertych’s publication in February of a controversial pamphlet entitled “Civilisations at war in Europe”, featuring parliament’s logo on the cover.

The 32-page booklet caused an uproar in parliament because of its sweeping statements about Jewish people, including claims that Jews are “biologically different” from “gentiles”, and “prefer to voluntarily live separately from the communities which surround them”.

Poettering told MEPs in plenary that the booklet is “objectively a serious breach of the fundamental rights, and in particular the dignity of human beings to which our house so strongly adheres”.

“During my presidency I intend to safeguard both freedom of expression and the standard of conduct of members as well as the honour of this house,” he added.

“The European parliament, which thrives on lively political debate and unfailingly condemns all forms of xenophobia, should under no circumstances be associated with the views published in [Giertych’s] brochure,” he said.

It is the first time a president has ever invoked rule 147 of parliament’s procedures, which provides for penalties against MEPs for “exceptionally serious” violations of parliament’s principles of mutual respect and of the EU’s basic principles.

Upon publication, the booklet unleashed angry reactions from many MEPs, particularly because of the inclusion of the parliament logo which led to concerns that it may have received EU financing.

It later surfaced that Giertych had not received any parliament funding for the book.

The MEP’s son, Roman Giertych, is Poland's controversial deputy prime minister and minister of education – and the leader of the conservative political party the League of Polish Families.

The younger Giertych is himself no stranger to controversy - he surprised other EU ministers at a meeting last week when he called for a ban on abortion across the bloc and a halt to “homosexual propaganda”.

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