Controverse door Slowaaks EP-lid die homoseksualiteit een psychiatrische aandoening noemt (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Fresh controversy has emerged around the head of the women's committee in the European Parliament.

Anna Zaborska, a Slovak MEP, finds herself once more in the media spotlight after a group of MEPs accused her of trying to curb media freedom.

The criticism comes in response to Mrs Zaborska's recent decision to sue French newspapers Liberation and l'Humanité.

Both papers reported her as saying homosexuals should be treated in psychiatry - something the centre-right MEP denies having said.

A group of Parliamentarians, led by Véronique de Keyser, a Belgian Socialist MEP, has called on Mrs Zaborska to drop all charges against the press and to clarify her stand on gays.

"It is not a personal attack, but rather an attack on political views", Mrs De Keyser told the EUobserver on Tuesday (7 September).

Mrs Zaborska has refused to bow to the pressure and is proceeding with legal action against the two newspapers, arguing she is trying to defend herself against false quotation.

"It does not have anything to do with media freedom", she said.

Shaking off the image

However, it appears to be hard for the MEP to shake off the anti-gay image.

In 2003, a Slovak newspaper reported Mrs Zaborska, a doctor by profession, as saying she thought homosexuality was a physiological defect, AIDS was God's vengeance for homosexuality and that people who take part in extrovert gay love parades could not be trusted to work with children.

Also, when she was national MP, she did not support an anti-discrimination law in Slovakia - something required prior to the country's entry to the EU.

Committee battles

Following Mrs Zaborska's appointment as head of the women's committee, some members have alleged that its position has been weakened.

"[She] has adopted a low profile", Mrs De Keyser said. "She is complying with what has been agreed, but no more."

Mrs Zaborska's appointment was the result of a deal between the centre-right and the socialists groups, under which a socialist MEP would chair the economic and monetary affairs committee while a center-right MEP would chair the women's committee.

Lissy Groner, a German Socialist MEP, opposed the deal saying the Slovak's conservative attitude was "against the spirit of the committee".