EU Parliament: AfD MPs elect controversial festival to chair

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Nicolaus Fest (AfD)

Photo: Christoph Soeder / dpa

The AfD MEPs in the European Parliament have elected Nicolaus Fest as their new chairman - despite the scandal surrounding his statements about the late EU Parliament President David Sassoli.

Fest follows Jörg Meuthen, who recently left the AfD.

Gunnar Beck was elected as the new deputy chairman of the delegation.

Fest caused outrage in January because he had taunted Sassoli, who had just died, in a Whatsapp group.

As the ARD capital studio reported at the time, Fest wrote: "Finally this bastard is gone." He is also said to have described Sassoli as an "anti-democrat" and "a disgrace for every parliamentary idea".

Fest later wrote on Facebook that the picture drawn in statements and obituaries about Sassoli was incomplete.

He covered "the joint fraud in the daily allowances of two Italian MPs" and remained silent in the case of a Swedish MP involved in child abuse.

"Both cases can also be commented on in an internal chat in clear words," Fest continued and then criticized: "It is regrettable that screenshots of this internal communication were pierced."

The AfD itself then issued an apology for Fest's "inappropriate" choice of words.

"If he were still alive, I would apologize to him," said the MP himself.

til/dpa