Romania Shoah memorial role sparks unease

In July last year, Romania's president Klaus Iohannis signed into law legislation punishing Holocaust denial and the promotion of the Iron Guard with prison sentences of up to three years.

Mr Florian said, however, that the law merely encouraged the far-right to promote a nationalist, neo-Nazi agenda.

The ban has led to outbursts of antisemitism and Holocaust denial, among them a petition against Mr Florian and calls for the publicly-funded Wiesel Institute to be closed.

Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, said: "It is inevitable that Holocaust perpetrator or collaborator countries of 75 years ago, still have blind spots in interpreting that period today. When those countries take on the chairmanship of IHRA, it must be based on full disclosure and remorse.

"The just-ending Budapest chairmanship of the IHRA was marred by revisionism,denial and resurgent antisemitism, as the Holocaust became a political football. We will be vigilant in the hope that, in Bucharest, these demons will not prevail."