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The behaviour of European Parliament President Mr Hans-Gert Pöttering was denounced today by Nigel Farage UKIP leader.

"Not only were his actions anti-democratic, hectoring and bullying but he is incapable of even handed behaviour", said Farage.

He made his remarks after a heated debate after French President Nicolas Sarkozy had addressed the Chamber. Mr Farage accused Mr Pöttering of failing to discipline the behaviour of Green leader Danny Cohen-Bendit and UEN leader the Irishman Brian Crowley after they had insulted the Czech President Mr Vaclav Klaus.

Farage described the actions of Mr Cohen-Bendit when he demanded that Mr Klaus handing an EU flag over Prague castle as the sort of actions "that could easily have been done by a German official of seventy years ago or a Soviet official of twenty years ago".

He pointed out that Mr Schulz had suggested that opposing the Lisbon Treaty would lead to fascism and that Mr Cohen-Bendit had accused opponents of the Treaty as "mentally ill".

Mr Pöttering then allowed German socialist leader Schulz to accuse Farage of telling untruths. Though Farage had the documentary evidence in his hands taken from Schulz's own web page the European Parliament President refused him the opportunity to clear the slander.

"This is a sham democrat, in a sham Parliament", said Farage, "Voices who support the project are encouraged whatever the veracity, while dissident voices are silenced. I suppose it was ever thus".