Strasbourg, 19/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 17 January, by 468 votes to 149, with 41 abstentions, Parliament adopted a resolution condemning homophobia and “any discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation”. MEPs called on the Commission to add to anti-discrimination measures in Article 13 of the Treaty by proposing new directives or by establishing a more general framework covering all levels of discrimination. In a statement, the European Commission reacted strongly to the “openly homophobic” positions of the leaders of the Republic of Poland.
During the plenary debate, French Socialist Martine Roure pointed out that “people have been beaten to death in some Member States simply because of their sexual orientation”. She said, “We solemnly ask that an end be put to homophobic hatred, particularly when it comes from high officials of a national government”. For Alexander Stubb (EPP-ED, Finland), it was a matter of basic rights, and he added that States must be made to respect the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Sophia In't Veld (ALDE, Netherlands) said that “some Member States apply the subsidiarity principle to questions of fundamental rights!”
The Greens/EFA group were satisfied with the vote, but regretted that the Parliaments of Latvia and Lithuania had not been specifically named and blamed for their homophobic attitudes (recently these Parliaments have put forward amendments to their national constitutions to ban same-sex marriages: editor's note). In a press release, Spanish member of this group Raül Romeva stressed that Parliament had to react.