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'Please spare us your presence': European politicians tear into Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got an earful this week from European politicians at the EU Parliament. “Mr. Trudeau, you are a disgrace for any democracy,” said German MEP Christine Anderson on Wednesday.
Colin Dacre / Castanet
Mislav-Kolakusic-Trudeae
Mislav Kolakusic

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got an earful this week from European politicians at the EU Parliament.

“Mr. Trudeau, you are a disgrace for any democracy,” said German MEP Christine Anderson on Wednesday. “Please spare us your presence.”

“Based on article 195, I would like to point out that it would have been appropriate for Mr. Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, to address this house, according to article 144,” she said.

“An article, which was specifically designed to debate the violations of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law which is clearly the case with Mr. Trudeau.”

She tore into Trudeau and accused him of trampling on “fundamental rights” and persecuting citizens who oppose him.

Anderson is a member of the Alternative for Germany party, a right-wing populist party. The party was under surveillance by some German states as a suspected extremist group, although that was later blocked by the courts in advance of elections.

Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakusic on Tuesday said Trudeau was engaging in “dictatorship of the worst kind” by using the Emergencies Act to stop the Ottawa convoy protests.

“Canada, once a symbol of the modern world, has become a symbol of civil rights violations under your quasi-liberal boot in recent months,” he said.

Kolakusic sits as an independent in the European Parliament and has railed against COVID-19 restrictions since early in the pandemic. Earlier this year he accused French President Manual Macron of murder through vaccine mandates.

Romanian MEP Christian Terhes refused to even attend Trudeau’s speech in the EU Parliament. He is the only sitting member of the centre-right Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party.

“You can’t come to teach Putin’s democracy lessons from the European Parliament, when you pass with horse hoofs over your own citizens who demand that their fundamental rights be respected,” he said in a lengthy Facebook post.

Trudeau is in Europe meeting with leaders in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to Global News political correspondent David Akin, only about 200 of the 705 MEPs turned out to hear his speech.

Several other politicians also found Trudeau's visit to be unwelcome. Bernhard Zimniok, also of the Alternative for Germany party, said he tried to prevent Trudeau from speaking.

Meanwhile, in Canada, parliamentary hearings continued Thursday over the use of the Emergencies Act against Freedom Convoy protesters last month.

Conservative MP Dane Lloyd questioned Ottawa's interim police chief Steve Bell on whether any loaded guns were found during the sweep of truckers. 

Bell evaded a direct answer, saying police "received intelligence" about weapons at the protest but that "at no point did we lay any firearms-related charges" as a result of clearing out the protest. Bell said investigations continue into alleged weapons possessions.

- with AHN files

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