Agentur der Europäischen Union für Grundrechte
Professor Gábor Halmai of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency said "I completely share the criticisms" of the piece made by "The Economist". He said that amid an internal debate about an FRA response, a Cypriot colleague had said "it is not even certain that what Coren stated with regard to his past had taken place at all". Halmai responded that while the generalization used by Coren was unacceptable, it was protected under freedom of expression.