Brussels, 09/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - During their meeting in Brussels on 5-6 December, EU ministers for justice and home affairs adopted conclusions on the fight against hate crime in the EU and called on member states to ensure that existing legislation on racism and xenophobia, such as the Council's Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA (on combating certain kinds of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law), “has been fully transposed into national legislation and implemented in practice”. They also suggest considering “the experience of other member states in extending within their criminal legislation, the scope of punishable hate crime offences and the inclusion of other bias motives behind these offences”. The conclusions also suggest ensuring “prompt and effective investigation and prosecution of hate crimes ensuring that bias motives are taken into consideration and throughout criminal proceedings” and taking “appropriate measures to facilitate the reporting of hate crimes by victims and as far as possible also associations supporting them, including measures to build trust in police and other state institutions”. The Commission is invited to assess legislation and grant a “sufficient budget” to the projects that enable hate crimes to be combated (awareness campaigns, for example) and for the appropriate European agencies, such as the FRA and Europol, to continue their efforts in this area. (SP/transl.fl)