Brussels, 24/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 22 April, MEPs supported an initiative by the Netherlands for better protection of non-official persons threatened because of the contribution they make to the public debate. Those mainly concerned are a number of personalities, such as the Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali or the British writer Salman Rushdie, who are threatened because of the views they have expressed in public and who must therefore be protected. The European Parliament, who adopted the report by Gérard Deprez (ALDE, Belgium) by 633 votes to 19 and 7 abstentions, approves a proposal aimed at improving the existing network for the protection of such personalities, created in 2002. The proposal, which is the subject of an agreement at the Council of Ministers, will modify the network to extend the definition of “personality” to persons who hold “non official functions and can be threatened because of their contribution to the public debate or because of the influence that they have on the public debate and who, one member states says, deserve better protection”. The European network for the protection of personalities is an official communication and consultation channel between national authorities. It confers upon the member state that hosts the person concerned responsibility for the protection of that person and, in each member state, there is a single point of contact that assumes this responsibility. (B.C./transl.jl)