Tag: xenophobia

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who faces an uphill battle for re-election, realises he cannot win without "accepting the ideas" of the far right, a leading MEP told a Brussels audience yesterday (21 March).

Guy Vehofstadt, leader of the liberal ALDE group, said yesterday (13 March) that the recent verbal attacks by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on immigrants and the Schengen agreement were worse than the silence of the Dutch government over the discriminatory website of the Dutch Freedom party (PVV).

Viviane Reding, European Commission vice president responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, has vigorously condemned a website launched by a xenophobic Dutch party that collects complaints against Polish, Romanian and Bulgarian nationals who cause "nuisance" to society.

A series of revelations exposing the murders of nine immigrants of Turkish and Greek descent carried out between 2000 and 2006 has shocked Germany and galvanised a wave of resentment across Turkey. EurActiv Turkey contributed to this report. 

Conservative parties in Europe are instituting an agenda of austerity and xenophobia, verging on a new "tyranny of the majority" in Hungary, argue leaders of the Party of European Socialists and the social democratic parties of Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland.

Bart de Wever, the Flemish separatist leader, failed yesterday (18 October) to bring views closer to reforming the Belgian state. But he apparently succeeded in consolidating the positions of all the Flemish parties and antagonising French-speaking Wallonia.

European Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht apologised on 3 September for comments he made about Jews in a recent interview. The European Commission distanced itself from the offensive statements, but that did not stop commentators and Jewish organisations from talking of a "new wave" of anti-Semitism and racism across Europe.

A recently published study on sport and multiculturalism has been criticised for focussing attention on recent immigrants and not national minorities.