European Parliament President Martin Schulz has demanded a clarification in Belgian daily newspaper Metro which, his spokesperson said, misquoted him as saying that “Hungary wants to count the Jews.”
"Referring to your article in the 16 May edition where Martin Schulz is quoted as saying that "in Hungary they are counting the Jews" I would like to strongly clarify that this is a misquote," Schulz’s spokesman Armin Machmer said in a letter to Metro.
"In no way has President Schulz criticised the nation of Hungary or the Hungarian government for wanting to count Jews," he added.
He stressed that President Schulz has in the past referred to a member of a party represented in the Hungarian parliament (the extreme-right Jobbik) who wanted to know how many people of Jewish origins are members of the Hungarian Parliament.
"President Schulz has strongly criticised this one individual case," Machmer said.
"We would therefore strongly urge you to clarify this in your next edition as serious misunderstandings have taken place in Hungary due to this misquote," Machmer wrote.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said Schulz should apologise for the comment and a member of Hungary’s ruling Fidsz party, Gergely Gulyas, described Schulz’s statement as “an attempt at political influence by which the European Parliament President discredits the EU and its institutions in Hungary.”
In the interview, Schulz was also quoted as saying that the EU had enabled Europe to bury the demons of the 20th century. “Racism and anti-Semitism have been put under control but not yet eliminated and the crisis has created a real danger for their revival,” he said.