Belgium: ‘Greek Nazi party problematic’

THE HAGUE – Belgium regards with “concern and regret” the electoral gains of Greece’s “Nazi” party, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said on Monday.

Reynders was commenting on the entrance of the Golden Dawn far-right party into the Hellenic Parliament, after winning 7 percent of the vote in Greece’s general election on Sunday.

Belgium chairs the intergovernmental Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education.

In an interview with Joods Actueel, Belgium’s leading Jewish publication, Reynders said the party’s electoral success was a cause for concern. “This is not just a rightist party – it’s actually a Nazi party,” he said.

Reynders spoke on Monday as a guest of Flanders’s Forum of Jewish Organizations, at a ceremony commemorating the deportation of Antwerp’s Jews to Auschwitz.

“Populist parties often do well in times of crisis,” he said. “But this party, which uses such obvious references to the Nazis, is very problematic.”

The Golden Dawn party scored 0.29% of the vote in the last election in 2009.

The Golden Dawn Party describes itself as “patriotic” and “nationalist.” It opposes immigration and authorities believe its activists regularly assault immigrants at random. Party spokesmen deny it is neo-Nazi or racist.

The party logo has been likened to a swastika, although officials maintain it is the ancient Greek meander symbol.