Controversial nomination

As the controversy surrounding Hosni's candidacy calmed this week, Austria announced on Thursday it was nominating EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner to head the United Nations culture agency.

The candidates list closes on Saturday, May 30, though a final vote on who is to succeed the current head of UNESCO, Japan's Koichiro Matsuura, won't be held until October.

Hosni, Egypt's culture minister, came into the spotlight last week, when a group of French intellectuals pointed out that he had in 2008 called for the burning of Israeli books.

"I would burn them myself," Hosni had said last May, when asked by a member of the Egyptian parliament about the presence of Israeli books in Egyptian libraries.

Public apology

Hosni backpedaled this week, publishing an apology in the Paris daily Le Monde.

"Nothing is more distant to me than racism, the negation of others or the desire to hurt Jewish culture or any other culture," he wrote. "I want to solemnly say that I regret the words that I used."

After initially protesting, Israel has since withdrawn its opposition to Hosni, who has been Egypt's culture minister for over two decades.

Culture workers and Jewish leaders in Germany, however, have spoken out against his candidacy.

Opposition from Germany

The candidate "has in the past made clear what he thinks about art from Israel and has used vocabulary which is completely unthinkable for a UNESCO director general," said Olaf Zimmermann of Germany's Culture Council, an association of some 200 cultural groups.

"Anyone who says such a thing is not acceptable in this job," he said.

Even after the apology, Hosni's comment was still inexcusable, Salomon Korn, vice-president of Germany's Jewish Council, told broadcaster Deutschlandradio Kultur on Thursday.

If Husni "were a person who thought and acted morally, he would be ashamed of his comments and if he were really ashamed, then he wouldn't campaign for this post, but would take responsibility for his actions," Korn said.

According to the Austrian paper Der Standard, Husni may now have a viable competitor in Ferrero-Waldner. The 60-year-old served as Austria's foreign minister from 2000 to 2004 before becoming an EU commissioner. She was born in Salzburg and holds a law degree.

kjb/dpa/AP/Reuters/AFP

Editor: Toma Tasovac