GUE/NGL President Gabi Zimmer has condemned in the strongest possible terms the racist language used by far right Polish MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke during a Strasbourg plenary debate yesterday on youth unemployment.

Zimmer said: “Hearing Mr Korwin-Mikke use such venomous and hate-filled rhetoric is truly shameful for this house. We urgently demand severe consequences for MEP Korwin-Mikke.”

Mr Korwin-Mikke compared young job seekers to black labourers in the American South during the 1960s, using the racist term 'nigger' in the process.

Zimmer continued: “Such derogatory and xenophobic remarks are in stark contradiction to the values of equality, anti-discrimination, and acceptance. Our Group will not remain silent in the face of such regressive views.”

GUE/NGL Press Contacts:
Emily Macintosh +32 470 85 05 08
Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20
European United Left / Nordic Green Left
European Parliamentary Group