PVV leader Geert Wilders has described new anti-semitic comments by Front National founder Jean-Marie Le Pen as disgusting, qualifying his comments with ‘if this is really what was said and meant’.

Le Pen, recently re-elected as a European MP for the far-right French party and therefore a potential alliance partner with the PVV, was asked to respond to criticism of the Front National by French singer Patrick Bruel.

‘That doesn’t surprise me. Listen, we’ll do up an ovenful next time,’ Le Pen said. The comment was a clear reference to the Nazi’s gas chambers and Bruel’s Jewish heritage, commentators said.

Film

The comments were made in a film on the Front National’s website which has since been removed. However it can be viewed on the website of Le Parisien.

In a statement to news agency ANP, Wilders said: ‘If these statements were indeed made and meant, then they are absolutely disgusting and I have told the Front National so.” ANP said he declined to comment further.

Wilders wants to form an alliance with the Front National and other anti-European parties in the European parliament. So far he is two parties short of an official grouping.

Jewish groups have condemned Wilders’ close links with the French party, which is now led by Le Pen’s daughter Marine.