 A campaign by Swedish Liberal MEP Cecilia Malmström to end the monthly Strasbourg session of the European Parliament has led to a row between the speaker of the parliament and the Nordic countries. The speaker, Josep Borrell, claimed that Sweden did not suffer enought during the Second Ward War to understand the true meaning of the parliament’s Strasbourg base. The claim has enraged leader-writers on Sweden’s newspapers, who were asking whether Borrell really meant that countries who didn’t fight in the war should have less of a say in EU matters.
| Don't even bring up the subject of Sweden being a Nazi client state during the war ... |
“Borrell didn’t fight in the war himself – he was born 1947,” wrote Kristian Karlsson in Svenska Dagbladet.“But nobody has suggested that his entirely peaceful upbringing should exclude him from political debate.”
The row started last Thursday when Borrell, a Spaniard, claimed that the parliament is a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation, adding that “this historic dimension cannot be perceived in the same way in ‘some Nordic country’ which did not participate in World War II.”
| Unless I missed something, Spain studiously avoided participating in World War II. |
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