A censure motion brought against the leader of  far-right Golden Dawn party Nikos Michaloliakos and the party's MPs Ilias Kasidiaris and Panagiotis Iliopoulos was approved in Parliament on Monday night.
The censure motion was recommended by Parliament President Nikos Voutsis for unparliamentary conduct. Michaloliakos and the two MPs had been summoned before the parliamentary ethics committee last Monday in relation to their abusive verbal attacks targeting minority MPs in parliament, but none of the three attended. It is the first time that a political party leader is summoned to appear before the Greek parliament's ethics committee.
According to the Parliament?s rules, the censure motion also includes a 25% withholding of the MPs? monthly salary.
Voutsis and parliamentary representatives of other parties condemned the Golden Dawn's deputies for promoting hate and bigotry, and expressed support for the four Greek Muslim deputies.
The Golden Dawn leader and MPs said the proposal for their censure was illegal and unconstitutional, and did not retract any of their abusive verbal attacks.