Strasbourg, 07/09/2005 (Agence Europe) -Three members of the Socialist group - Véronique de Keyser of Belgium, Lissy Gröner of Germany and the Briton Michael Cashman -lent their support, in Strasbourg on Wednesday, to journalists employed by the French newspapers Libération and L'Humanité, and by the weekly magazine Elle-Belgique, whom Anna Zaborska (EPP-ED, Slovakia) is suing for defamation of character. Ms de Keyser explained to the press that at the 30th anniversary of the Veil Law on the legalisation of abortion in France, she had told these newspapers of the homophobic, anti-feminist comments Ms Zaborska had made when she was a member of the Slovakian Parliament, and which had been quoted by the Slovakian press. "It is unusual to attack and MEP by attacking the press", Ms de Keyser noted, more generally criticising the "wave of fundamentalism" which has become apparent within the European Parliament since the last round of elections. At the Parliament, "things happen which didn't happen before", she said, referring to the example of the Polish MEP Urszula Krupa (Independence and Democracy), who had compared abortion to the Holocaust or the bloodbath in Beslan. Ms Zaborska herself (whose election to the post of president of the committee on women last year caused considerable consternation) has been keeping a "low profile" since her election, Ms de Keyser admitted. I would like to ask Ms Zaborska to withdraw her complaint, to come and talk to us, to come and explain to us that she is not a "homophobe", said Michael Cashman, president of the gay intergroup. Suing journalists for defamation of character is a highly "extreme" action, said the British Labour member, noting: "in politics, we need to have a very thick skin", and even if we are attacked, we should respect freedom of speech. Withdraw your complaint, said Lissy Gröner to Anna Zaborska, saying: before the committee on women's rights, you can clearly distance yourself from your past declarations. More generally, noting that "the EPP-ED colleagues knew of these comments Ms Zaborska had made but still wanted her to be the president" of the committee on women's rights, the German social Democrat said that this was because they wanted to undermine the committee, and that this had been a deliberate political act.