The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group was formed in June 2009 by the Conservative Party and our allies in the European Parliament. Because we are eurosceptic, conservative and anti-federalist, there are plenty of people out to get us. But they haven’t got anything to get us on. So they have accused the Chairman of the ECR, Michał Kamiński, of anti-semitism. These accusations are downright lies, and the people making them know it.
Kamiński is accused of having once been a member of an anti-Semitic party. In fact, the National Rebirth of Poland Party was not anti-Semitic when he joined aged 15. It was anti-Communist. He left before his 18th birthday. “It was a time I am very proud of, when at the age of 15, I decided to become a member of the underground against the Communist dictatorship. At the time this was a patriotic youth organisation not anti-Semitic or Nazi,” he said.
David Miliband attacked us for sitting with the Latvian Freedom and Fatherland party, on the grounds that they attend an “annual parade honouring veterans of the Latvian Legion of the Waffen SS”. In fact, the parade honours all Latvian war dead, and is attended by every party in Latvia. But you won’t find a single mention of this in the many smear stories the Guardian have run.
Miliband was rebuked by the Latvian Ambassador, but he hasn’t apologised. William Hague pointed out that Miliband’s attack was “based on remarks which the Chief Rabbi of Poland has said were misrepresented.” Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, described it as “anti-Semitic mudslinging of the worst kind“. He said, “Far from being an antisemite, Mr Kaminski is about as pro-Israel an MEP as exists.”
As Kamiński says in Total Politics:
What I’m facing here in the UK is not only a very disappointing standard of political debate, but very disappointing standards of journalism. Rabbi Schudrich made a statement about the allegations in this magazine. He sent them a statement and they ignored it. They didn’t print it. Rabbi Schudrich made it very clear that he didn’t want to make any political statements about me, but he wanted to make clear that he has nothing against me and does not regard me as an anti-Semite. Come on. Just recently, I came back from Israel where I was received at the top level of government. I had my statement posted on the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs. The Israeli ambassador to Brussels accepted my invitation to visit our group next week; can you imagine that the Israeli state would receive me if they had any doubts about my attitude towards the Jewish people and the state of Israel?
The Labour charge was that by leaving the European People’s Party we were allying ourselves with extremists. But in fact it’s the EPP that contains the extremists.
In fact it is the Labour Party who sit with nutters and unpleasant characters in the European Parliament. They sit with Communist nostalgics, an old member of the IRA, and a 9/11 denier.
