(JTA) — Austria’s finance minister apologized for comparing the criticism of bankers to the Nazis’ persecution of Jews.
Maria Fekter apologized Sunday after making the comments over the weekend at a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Poland.
Fekter said she "regrets if people felt hurt or irritated by my words," adding that she did not intend to compare events in Europe today with the Nazis and the Holocaust, the Austrian reported. .
She had said at the meeting, "In Europe we are now pillorying the banks and the wealthy. This has already happened once, especially in the era against the Jews, but also against similar groups, and that drove us to two wars."
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger called on Fekter to "pay attention to her choice of words."
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