An overwhelming majority of the European Parliament today voted to remove ECR Group vice-president Ryszard Czarnecki after his unacceptable comments regarding fellow MEP Róża Thun.

S&D Group vice-president Josef Weidenholzer said:

“The S&D Group strongly supported the removal of Ryszard Czarnecki from his role as vice-president of the European Parliament. His comments, in which he compared Róża Thun MEP to a Nazi collaborator, went far beyond what is acceptable political discourse. It was clear that he could not stay in his role as Parliament vice-president after making these comments about a fellow MEP. Over the last few years, we have seen a rise in political abuse and hate speech towards politicians. We have to try and reverse this trend rather than inflaming it.”