Neo- Nazi put on EU’s civil liberties unit

BRUSSELS (WJC)–European leaders, anti-racism campaigners and Jewish organizations have expressed outrage after a German neo-Nazi took a seat on the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee. Udo Voigt, the former leader of the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), has praised Adolf Hitler, was convicted for glorifying the Waffen SS, and infamously claimed “no more than 340,000 Jews” had died in the Holocaust.

Voigt, Germany’s first far-right MEP led the NPD from 1996 to 2011. German intelligence classifies the party as a far-right extremist organization. An attempt to ban the party in 2003 failed but another attempt is currently being considered by Germany’s Constitutional Court.

Parliament President Martin Schulz, a member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party, told the news site ‘EurAktiv‘: “Everyone who denies the Holocaust and who is against human dignity, democracy and plurality will encounter the strongest of resistance from me. The European Parliament is the place where the representatives of the European people work hard to ensure a good and peaceful future for us on our continent. There is no place for racists and anti-Semites in this house.”

The Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee is responsible for the protection of citizens’ rights, human rights, and measures to combat discrimination. Deputies who, like Voigt, are unattached to any political caucus in the European Parliament, are allocated a set number of committee seats to be divided among all independent politicians.

A spokesman for the European Jewish Congress told ‘EurActiv‘: “It does the European Parliament no credit to have people sitting on its civil liberties committee who have obviously not only shown no commitment to civil liberties, but have sought to undermine them and to purvey a racist and intolerant agenda throughout their political career. We call upon members of the civil liberties committee, and indeed all parliamentary groups within the European Parliament, to ensure that Mr. Voigt does not get the publicity for his repugnant views that he so clearly seeks at every opportunity.”

In New York, the American Jewish Committee said it was outraged that Udo Voigt, of the German neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), will serve on the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.

“It’s revolting enough that Voigt was elected to the European Parliament, but his assignment to this particular European Parliament committee makes a mockery of everything all democratic forces hold dear,” said Stephan Kramer, director of AJC’s European Office on Anti-Semitism. The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee is responsible for the protection of citizen rights, human rights, and measures to combat discrimination.

“The idea of a neo-Nazi as a guardian of European human rights is sickening,” Kramer added. Voigt has long belittled the Holocaust, glorified Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime, and promoted racism and xenophobia.

Looking ahead to the next European Parliament elections in 2019, Kramer called for serious consideration of setting an electoral threshold for political parties vying for seats in the regional legislature. “The threshold percentage for parties entering the European Parliament should be considered just as important as the rules in place in the German Bundestag, where it is a minimum of five percent, and most other national parliaments in Europe,” said Kramer.

 

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress and American Jewish Committee