Brussels, 09/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the German EU Presidency restated its wish to set European legislation in place in order to combat the far right in the EU, and to prosecute those who deny the existence of the Holocaust and those who are guilty of perpetrating racist acts.
Germany will be launching an offensive in order to establish unique European standards to combat the far right, Germany's Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said during a press conference in Berlin. Any denial of the Holocaust should be punished as a criminal offence throughout the EU, she went on to add. When presenting its programme on justice and home affairs for the next six months, the Presidency had taken a stance in favour of resuming talks on the 2001 proposal for a framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia (EUROPE 9337). In an interview published on Monday by the popular daily, Die Bild, the Social Democrat minister also specifies that any European project along these lines has hitherto failed because of Italy's opposition (EUROPE 8877). “But the new government in Rome has said it wishes to follow us. That would open up the way ahead”, she said. According to the wording of the text proposed by the Commission, each Member State should take the necessary measures to ensure that the following intentional acts are punishable by law: public incentive to discrimination, violence or hatred aimed at a group of people or a member of any such group defined with reference to race, colour, religion, ascendancy, national or ethnic origin. It also calls for any person who makes a public apology in favour of racial crimes, or who denies the existence or importance of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to be punishable by law. Finally, the text provides for each Member State to take measures necessary to ensure that anyone perpetrating such acts is liable to at least one to three years' imprisonment. (bc)