The Japan Times - Bulgarian MEP gives Nazi salute in European Parliament

Going up the steps that lead to the exit of the hemicycle, Angel Dzhambazki of the eurosceptic ECR group can be seen on a video of the debate turning around and extending his right arm in front of him for a few seconds before leaving.

"We will never allow you to tell us what to say and do. Long live Bulgaria, Hungary, Orban, Fidesz and the Europe of nation states," the representative of the Bulgarian nationalist party VMRO had earlier told the parliament.

He also described on Twitter as an "abomination" a Wednesday decision by the EU's top court -- the European Court of Justice -- to validate a mechanism, contested by Poland and Hungary, allowing the blocking of funds to countries where there are violations of the rule of law.

The vice-president of the European Parliament, Italy's Pina Picierno, who led the debate, said the institution would "check with the cameras what happened in this hemicycle, to see if there was a fascist salute or not".

"We do not in any way allow fascist gestures and symbols. If this has been done, it is extremely serious and sanctions will be taken," she warned.

The French government's secretary of state for European affairs Clement Beaune, who was present as part of his country's EU presidency, called the gesture "scandalous and outrageous" on Twitter.

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola tweeted that "a fascist salute in the European Parliament is unacceptable to me -- always and everywhere".

"It offends me and everyone else in Europe," she added.

"We stand for the opposite. We are the House of democracy. That gesture is from the darkest chapter of our history and must be left there."

K.Hashimoto--JT