In Berlin, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee made the following comments on the decision of the PPE Group in the European Parliament to keep the Hungarian Fidesz representative Tamas Deutsch in the group, despite his Gestapo comparison:

"Representatives of the Fidesz Party are increasingly denigrating democracy and its representatives in Europe with their unbearable Nazi comparisons. For Holocaust survivors this shameless abuse of their personal experiences is becoming increasingly difficult to endure. The fact that the PPE Group was unable to find a majority to exclude the Hungarian Fidesz MEP Tamas Deutsch, following his attack using absurd Nazi comparisons against the party leader Manfred Weber, is an alarming sign of regression, particularly after the parliament’s insistence on the principle of the rule of law. Mr Orban and his faithful followers will once again be able to snigger at the gullible waverers in Brussels."