GETTY Gangs of migrants men attacked scores of women in Cologne on New Year's

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MEPs from across all parties condemned the assault on December 31 last year, but said sexual harassment of women has become the norm across Europe. Speaking during a debate at the European Parliament on violence against women in public spaces, prompted by the Cologne attacks, European Union (EU) politicians urged for a European directive to combat violence against women.

But European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Romanian Corina Cretu, said it was up to each member state to assume responsibility to formally prosecute those who have committed violence against women. A total of 497 women filed criminal complaints alleging 766 counts of sexual assault, including three rapes outside Cologne’s main railway station on New Year’s Eve.

GETTY The Cologne sex attacks sparked an angry response in Germany

A co-ordinated group of male migrants are thought to have taken out the attacks, which also happened in other German cities and across Europe. Many also spoke out against the thousands of refugees and migrants who have arrived in Europe over the past year, saying their cultures do not match up with European culture.

GETTY Angela Merkel has backtracked on her immigration policy in the aftermath of the Cologne attacks

Milan Zver, of the Slovenian Democratic Party, said: “Violence against women in Cologne was not something that was a one off incident. “This is really an attack against our system and we must stand firm in terms of what we wish to convey. “No one should change our life style, no one should make us think differently.”

Many of the MEPs stated a third of women in Europe have been sexually harassed, adding they had been waiting for the debate for far too long. British Tory MEP Julie Girling said violence against women has not just been discovered but added the “Islamisation” of the world has meant the fight against violence to women has gone backwards recently.

GETTY More than a hundred women reported attacks in Cologne