On Thursday 11 February, a majority of the presidents of the European Parliament's political groups supported Renew Europe’s proposal to organise a debate on “the homophobic policies of certain European communities and governments” during the March plenary session.
The group also obtained a resolution, initiated by its MEP Pierre Karleskind (France), which is to be put to the vote on this occasion.
The initiative, which aims to “declare the EU a ‘LGBTI Freedom Zone’, is mainly focused on the increase in Poland over the last 2 years of zones that are “free from LGBTI ideology” (see EUROPE 12393/13, 12530/19).
“The message has to be clear and unambiguous: there is no place for homophobia, neither in Poland nor anywhere else in Europe”, said Karleskind on Thursday.
The day before at the Council of Europe, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities had discussed two reports on increasing levels of discrimination and attacks against LGBTI people. One of the reports denounces a diminishing of their rights in all Council of Europe member states. The other is based on a fact finding mission to Poland which was undertaken last November; it focuses on cities, provinces and regions that are adopting family charters and resolutions against what is referred to as “LGBTI ideology”.
These local authorities represent “one third of the whole of Poland”, said rapporteur Andrew Boff, although he did note that some cities had withdrawn the declarations they had signed, while others had cancelled the charters. “This is therefore not a static situation. Opinions can vary and evolve”, he noted.
On the basis of this report, a Resolution will be submitted to the Congress before the summer, which will call on the relevant Polish local and regional authorities to back off and to draw up policies that protect the rights of vulnerable groups.
Conversion therapies. In addition, on Wednesday 10 February, the LGBTI Intergroup and the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) again wrote to the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, about so-called “conversion therapy” practices that are carried out with the aim of “ converting” homosexuals to heterosexuality and which are only banned by two Member States (see EUROPE 12579/32).
MEPs welcomed the Commissioner’s acknowledgement – in her reply to their previous letter – that these practices “have no place in the European Union”. They also pointed out that “a growing number of EU Member States are considering [...] bills to ban them”.
Furthermore, the intergroup noted that the Commission would not propose legislation to prohibit these practices (see EUROPE 12600/23) “owing to the competence of Member States to define their own health policy”. However, it noted that in making use of this power, Member States must respect fundamental rights that are “binding by virtue of constitutions and commitments under international law”.
The letter therefore includes a series of questions in this respect, such as what tools the Commission has at its disposal if it were to find that these therapies were incompliant with international human rights law.
See the letter: http://bit.ly/3abGwUt (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)