Strasbourg, 27/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the rising wave of homophobia in Europe, particularly recent comments by members of the conservative Polish government opposed to 'homosexual propaganda at school.'
Although the MEPs also expressed concern at recent events in Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the bulk of the resolution covers homophobia in Poland. The joint resolution from most of the big political groupings (the PES, ALDE, Greens/EFA and GUE) apart from the conservative EPP, was adopted by 325 to 124 with 150 abstentions. Dutch ALDE MEP Sophia In't Veld said: 'This resolution is intended as a warning shot to all those who seek to give legitimacy or legality to such views, by stating unequivocally that they are not acceptable in the Europe of the 21st century.' The MEPs' ire is directed at comments by Polish Education Minister Miroslaw Orzechowski about introducing a law whereby school heads, teachers and pupils active in defending the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals (GLBT) in school could be sacked, fined or imprisoned. Another draft law to remove gays from various jobs was also denounced. MEPs call on the Polish authorities to be careful not to propose or adopt such laws or to intimidate the gay and lesbian community. They urge the Polish government to publicly condemn and penalise homophobic statements by Polish public figures because any attitude to the contrary would violate Article 6 of the Treaty on the European Union on fundamental rights. Article 6 allows the EU to issue sanctions against any member state failing to respect the founding rules of the EU, which include respect for human rights. The sanctions can include suspending the right of the country in question to vote in EU27 ministerial meetings. In this connection, the EP instructed the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia to investigate the situation in Poland, and asked the European Commission to verify whether Orzechowski's comments and action contravened Article 6 of the Treaty on the EU.
The very day that the EP was discussing the issue, Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said in Warsaw that the position taken by the EP was 'debatable', adding: 'If we're talking about not having homosexual propaganda in Polish schools, I fully agree with those who feel this way.' He said 'Nobody is limiting gay rights in Poland,' but 'it's not in the interest of any society to increase the number of homosexuals.'
In the resolution, MEPs consider a series of actions. We cannot spend our time voting through resolutions and should think in the future of tools with which we can take effective action, said Martine Roure (PES, France). In June 2006, the EP adopted an equivalent resolution on the increase in racist and homophobic violence in the EU, particularly in Poland.
This time, the MEPs want to send an EP fact finding delegation to Poland which would also enter dialogue with the people concerned. The MEPs instructed the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia to carry out an investigation on the emerging climate of racial intolerance, xenophobia and homophobia in Poland.
The resolution also asked the Commission to publish new European directives to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in all areas, because at present only discrimination in the workplace is covered by EU rules. The Commission was also instructed to take member states violating their EU obligations to court. In this connection, EU Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Commissioner Vladimir Spidla pointed out during the debate that the Commission was carefully following developments, and would not hesitate to intervene if necessary in the event of violation of EU law.
The MEPs also noted a number of positive developments in Poland, like the fact that gay pride marches are not automatically banned. Although the resolution came about because of worrying statements by the Polish education minister, Italian UEN/NGL MEP Giusto Catania said that 'it would be a mistake to think that such policies are the exclusive preserve of the Polish government.' (bc)