Greek Lawmaker Urges PACE to Defy Poroshenko's 'Anti-Communist' Law

Liana Kanelli, of the Greek Communist Party, said addressing PACE that Europe faces a political vandalism that is trying to equalize Nazism and Communism.

STRASBOURG (Sputnik) — A Greek lawmaker at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) warned the 47-nation body on Monday against Ukraine's attempts at equating Nazi ideology with that of Soviet Communism.

"Europe now, in its broader idea, faces a political vandalism that is trying to equalize Nazism and Communism," Liana Kanelli, of the Greek Communist Party, said addressing PACE on the first day of the spring session.

Kanelli condemned the situation where European taxpayer money is used to bail out Ukraine, after its government signed off on an anti-Communism law that, she said, "banned communists from everything, accusing them of everything."

In early April, the Ukrainian parliament passed a legislation to ban Soviet Communist and Nazi symbols and propaganda.

"I have to remind my colleagues in all the countries of the council of Europe that ten years ago we avoided equalizing Nazism, which is a criminal ideology and a criminal practice, and Communism, which might be a dream of a better world," Kanelli pointed out.

She urged all PACE nations to stand against Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's "anti-Communist law."

Reacting to the signing of the new Ukrainian law, Greek Communist party leader Paolo Ferrero said it was revisionist and urged the left-wing Syriza government to recall the Greek ambassador from Kiev.