Pressure on freedom of speech grows in Europe – journalist

3 Sep, 2010 15:11 / Updated 14 years ago

An executive at the German Central Bank, Thilo Sarrazin, may be sacked following controversial comments he made.

The institution is pressuring the country's president to remove the board member for his disparaging remarks about Jews and Muslims.

In one of his comments, Mr. Sarrazin claimed that “Arabs are no good for anything other than picking fruit.”

Helle Merete Brix, Danish journalist and writer, says that, while it was a very harsh statement to make, “of course, he should be free to make such a statement.”

She stresses that in the US people are free to make harsh statements, whereas “Europe seems to be nervous about anything crossing the line.”

“The pressure on freedom of speech has sort of grown tremendously all over Europe,” the journalist told RT.