From Gates of Vienna:
VH has accompanied the video with his abridged translation of an article from Dagelijkse Standaard:
“You want to see the receipts of the President? FASCIST!”
A PVV member of the European Parliament succeeded in being styled a “fascist” by another MP. Did he make an absurd statement on immigration? Did he say something blunt about mosques? Or did he have a special solution to the problem of the Iranian ayatollahs? None of the above: Daniël van der Stoep (PVV) put his finger on the most sensitive spot of the EU. Not on the lack of democracy, but the really sensitive area, but the income of the members of the club, in this case that of Barroso, President of the EC. Because it had become clear Barroso declares over seven hundred thousand euros per year [US $1 million] as “expenses”, which is some €2,000 [U.S. $2,700] a day.
This is to the satisfaction of Martin Schulz, a member of the German SDP and the President of the EP Socialist Group. Schulz apparently believes that transparency at this point is not desirable and made this known by shouting “fascist” towards Van der Stoep (see video). Later he denied this to the Dutch NOS news : he did not shout that at the PVV parliamentarian, but at a member of the British UKIP party. When the NOS news reporter asked Schulz whether this, given recent events with Nigel Farage — the UKIP chairman who [notably on demand of the same Schulz video] received a €3,000 fine for stating that EU president Van Rompuy had “the charisma of a damp rag” — was appropriate, and Farage was fined for much less, Schulz suddenly denied having used the word “fascist” and walked away angrily.
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“Schultz just called me ‘fascist’,” Van der Stoep told NOS news. “It became a heated debate, and he indeed used that word in my direction: Fascist. Which I find simply silly.” An hour later, a spokesman for Schultz called NOS news, saying the politician would still like to round out the interview. Schultz then admitted he had reacted too emotionally. “So next time, what will you do?” asked the reporter. Schultz: “Well, listen more carefully to my advisers, who tell me to ‘keep cool’”…
