EU SAYS NEW ANTI-RACISM RULES ARE "POLITICAL SIGNAL"
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
April 19, 2007 Thursday 4:38 PM EST
DPA POLITICS EU Justice Extremism 3RD ROUNDUP: EU says new anti-racism
rules are "political signal" Luxembourg The European Union on Thursday
agreed new rules to criminalize racism and xenophobia in the bloc,
but said that the long-debated measures were mainly of symbolic nature.
"Racism and xenophobia can only be combatted effectively inside
society," German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries told reporters
after a meeting with her counterparts in Luxembourg.
"Criminal measures can only be supplementary, they can never be
sufficient in combatting racism and xenophobia in itself," said
Zypries whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Zypries said that the agreed piece of EU legislation, which is not
legally binding for the bloc’s members, was an "important political
signal" for the 27-nation union.
Under the new rules, EU countries would set jail terms of at least
one to three years for "publicly inciting to violence or hatred …
directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group
defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national
or ethnic origin."
However, the legislation does not set any minimum fines. It also leaves
up to national courts to define what exactly constitutes incitement
to violence or hatred.
There will also be no Europe-wide ban on the use of Nazi symbols.
Frattini said that the new rules would fully respect the freedom
of expression.
"We are punishing concrete action, not any ideas, we are punishing
incitement to hatred in a concrete way or encouraging other people
to take concrete (xenophobic) action," Frattini said.
He also said that the European Commission would try to raise awareness
for the Stalinist atrocities by organizing public debates "on the
horrible crimes of the last century, … Nazi crimes, Stalinist
crimes."
However, the events still needed parliamentary approval in seven
EU countries.
The EU’s anti-racism rules – debated since 2001 – seemed at risk
after Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia had demanded making illegal
the condoning, denial or trivialization of crimes against humanity
committed under the Soviet regime led by Joseph Stalin.
Other EU states were opposed to the Baltic demands, arguing that they
did not legally recognize crimes committed under the Stalinist regime
or define major Stalin atrocities as genocide.
Zypries said the EU did not intend to decide on history but wanted
to create public awareness for crimes against humanity.
Germany views a common EU law on combatting racism and xenophobia as
a moral obligation.
The new rules which would also make denying the Holocaust – the mass
killing of Jews by Nazis and Nazi supporters – a crime in the EU
if the statement incites to violence or hatred, do not cover denying
the massacre of Armenians in World War I.
Turkey denies that the killing of up to one million Armenians
constituted genocide, putting their deaths down to ethnic strife,
disease and famine, and has prosecuted historians and journalists
for calling it genocide.
Under the rules, the denial of crimes of genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes will be punishable in the EU if these crimes
have been defined by international courts and if the statement incites
to hatred or violence.
Laws against denying the Holocaust already exist in Austria, Belgium,
France, Germany and Spain.
European racism watchdogs have said that the agreed text is "weak,"
adding that EU efforts were "without any substantial intent to provide
strengthened protections for those who experience racist crime and
violence in Europe."