The French Presidency of the Council of the EU (FPEU) aims to have a decision adopted at the next ‘Justice’ Council on 4 March to include hate speech and hate crime among the European criminal offences listed in Article 83 TFEU. It submitted a compromise decision text to Member State representatives on 18 February, according to a document obtained by EUROPE.
Despite changes in the recitals to try to satisfy all countries, Member State representatives have still not approved the decision, according to an EU source. The FPEU indicated on 18 February that it would come back with changes to the text.
France had already amended some paragraphs to emphasise the need for proportionality between hate speech and freedom of expression. Several Member States had mentioned this need at the informal meeting of Justice Ministers on 4 February (see EUROPE 12884/3).
A paragraph was also added to emphasise that additional measures should be taken to combat hate crime, particularly in terms of prevention. “The Council encourages the development of preventive measures such as online content moderation or the use of social policies. This also concerns, where appropriate, the use of restorative justice and actions to develop and implement non-custodial sentences”, added the FPEU in the compromise text.
The ministers must adopt this decision unanimously. The European Commission may then propose a directive to lay down minimum rules for these criminal offences and their sanctions.
See the compromise text proposed by France on 18 February (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/io (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)