European Parliament Speaker
Martin Schulz, the Socialist candidate to be the next European
Commission president, said he hoped his bloc wins the upcoming
EP elections to help regain public confidence dented by Silvio
Berlusconi's "shameful" attacks on Germany.
Schulz led the criticism after three-time Italian premier
Berlusconi recently said that German people denied the existence
of Nazi death camps.
"With a Socialist victory we'll regain the public faith
that we need, including to avoid shameful attacks from someone
like Berlusconi," Schulz said.
"Sometimes I'm surprised that I'm the one who defends
(German Chancellor Angela) Merkel from this man more than her
own party does".
Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party is in
the European People's Party (EPP) along with Merkel's Christian
Democratic Union (CDU).
But that has not stopped Berlusconi criticising Merkel and
the austerity policies she championed during the eurozone debt
crisis.
Euroskeptic parties and far-right groups are expected to
do well in this month's European elections and Schulz warned
that there is "a real risk that German Nazis can occupy seats in
the European parliament".
But he added that "a high turnout in Germany may avoid
this disgrace".
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