17/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - The chairman of the civil liberties committee at the European Parliament, Gérard Deprez (ALDE, Belgium), wrote to the Slovenian justice minister, Lovro Šturm, calling on him to reflect on the possibility of deferring adoption of the proposal aimed at making incitement to terrorism a crime. According to the timetable foreseen, the draft text, which will require Parliament's advisory opinion, is expected to receive, on Friday, the support of the JHA Council (policy direction) and may, in the best of cases, be formally adopted in December. In his letter, Mr Deprez says: “I consider, however, that the new legislation should be adopted as part of the new Treaty provisions, early next year”. Given the tight timetable, the latter considers in particular that it would be appropriate to make the most of the European Court of Justice's full competence on this text in so far as it directly affects the fundamental rights of citizens. If the text were adopted in early 2009, the Council would then be compelled to take the EP's position into account. (B.C.)