On Tuesday 18 October, MEPs discussed the rise in hate crimes against the LGBTQI+ community in the EU. The debate was put on the agenda of the European Parliament’s plenary session by Renew Europe, following the homophobic double murder in Bratislava on Wednesday 12 October. Two motions for resolutions, one from a group of political groups, the other from ID, will be put to the vote on Thursday 20 October.
Czech Vice-President Ivan Bartoš, EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli and the whole House were present during the debate and unanimously denounced the hate crime in Slovakia. “This was a [serious case of] hate crime. […] But attacks on the LGBTQI+ people are happening in all EU countries with alarming regularity”, denounced Frances Fitzgerald (EPP, Irish).
Political rhetoric fuels hatred
The cause: a proliferation of hate speech facilitated by the Internet, but legitimised by political discourse. “This attack did not start when the shooter picked up the gun. This attack started long before. It started with words, with words of hatred, uttered on social media, but also unfortunately uttered in places in this Parliament”, said Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA, German).
Indeed, the MEPs present pointed to the responsibility of politicians, particularly from the far right. For Cyrus Engerer (S&D, Maltese), the homophobic murder in Bratislava is “the result of inaction in the face of growing radicalisation of far‑right and conservative narratives”. “We need education, institutions and that every politician and public figure to stand up against this hatred”, said Malin Björk (The Left, Swedish).
The only member of his political group to speak, Johan Nissinen (ECR, Sweden) confirmed that “what happened is not an isolated incident”, and called for working together, “regardless of political affiliation”, to make society safer, saying he was prepared to “work across party lines”. Michal Šimečka (Renew Europe, Slovakian) called for the LGBTQI+ community to stop being “the eternal victim of political games and ideologies”.
Extending the list of European crimes
Finally, Helena Dalli called on the EU Council to approve the extension of the list of European crimes to include hate crimes and hate speech, as requested by the European Parliament. “We must strengthen our set of regulatory and policy tools”, she said. “I share the frustration […] if the Presidency receives indications that unanimity could be achieved, it will bring back this file to the table of the EU Council”, Ivan Bartoš assured.
Read the motions for resolutions from the EPP, Renew Europe, S&D, The Left and Greens/EFA groups: https://aeur.eu/f/3ox ; and from ID: https://aeur.eu/f/3oy (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)