MEPs call to dismiss Czarnecki after Nazi comparison

A number of prominent European politicians, including leaders of four parties are calling to remove Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Ryszard Czarnecki from his position as the deputy president of the European Parliament after he likened fellow Polish MEP to a Nazi collaborator. In a letter sent to Parliament President Antonio Tajani, MEPs called Czarnecki’s actions “unacceptable,” and called for his removal from the deputy president post. Czarnecki in his blog post compared Civic Platform (PO) MEP Róża Thun to a Nazi collaborator who handed over Jews for money (szmalcownik), he used this word claiming that Thun collaborated with the EU by denunciating Polish government and its actions which, according to him were damaging to Poland’s reputation. “These remarks exceed the boundaries of responsible political discourse, both on a personal and on an institutional level,” MEPs Manfred Weber, Gianni Pittella, Guy Verhofstadt, and Philippe Lamberts said in a letter urging Tajani to take “appropriate action.”