Resolution on the increase in racist and homophobic violence in Europe

In adopting a joint resolution from the PES, ALDE, Greens and GUE/NGL political groups, by 301 in favour to 161 against with 102 abstentions, Parliament deplored the fact that the Council has been unable to adopt the 2001 Council Framework Decision on combating racism and xenophobia.

MEPs urgently called on the future Finnish Presidency of the Council to the restart the work on it and on the Council to reach an agreement on explicitly extending it to homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and other types of offences motivated by phobia or hatred based on ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religion or other irrational grounds. Parliament called on the Member States to reinforce criminal law measures aimed at the approximation of the penalties for such offences throughout the EU. All Member State must effectively implement the anti-discrimination directives. The Commission must bring before the Court of Justice those Member States which fail to do so and to submit before mid-2007 proposals for new legislative tools covering all the grounds for discrimination set out in Article 13 of the EC Treaty and having the same scope as Directive 2000/43/EC.

Parliament strongly condemned all racist and hate attacks, and urged all national authorities to do everything in their power to punish those responsible and to fight the climate of impunity with respect to those attacks. It expressed its solidarity with all victims of such attacks and their families, and went on to describe recent incidences. It was seriously concerned about the general rise in racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic intolerance in Poland, partly fuelled by religious platforms such as Radio Maryja, which had also been criticised by the Vatican for its anti-Semitic discourse. The EU should take appropriate measures to express its concerns and notably to address the issue of the participation in the government of the League of Polish Families, whose leaders incite people to hatred and violence. Poland was reminded of its of its commitments and obligations under the Treaties, and the possible sanctions in the event of non-compliance. Parliament urged the Polish government to reconsider the abolition of the Office of the Plenipotentiary for Equal Status. It asked the Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia to conduct an inquiry into the emerging climate of racist, xenophobic and homophobic intolerance in Poland. The Commission must verify if the actions and declarations of the Polish Minister of Education are in conformity with Article 6 of the EU Treaty.

Parliament also condemned the Russian authorities' decision to ban the first Gay Pride in Moscow on 27 May 2006, and was deeply disappointed at the failure of EU leaders to raise this matter during the EU-Russia Summit on 18 May. It expressed its astonishment at the reaction of the President of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly to the incidents in Moscow, when he congratulated Russia on its human rights record, instead of condemning the violation of basic human rights which took place on 27 May 2006.

Parliament wanted all Member States to at least foresee the possibility of withdrawing public funding from political parties that did not abide by human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law as set out in the ECHR and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and called on those that already have this possibility to do so without delay. It asked Member States to launch campaigns to promote cultural diversity as a form of richness and economic dynamism, gender equality, the fight against discrimination, tolerance, dialogue and integration, for instance in the context of the European Years of Equal Opportunities for All (2007) and Intercultural Dialogue (2008).

Members called on the Commission to continue developing an anti-discrimination policy alongside its emerging policy on integration. For equality to be achieved, due regard needed to be paid to integration and other non-legislative measures, such as promoting interaction and participation.

Finally, Parliament stressed the need to support anti-racist and anti-xenophobic initiatives in relation to the current World Cup in Germany and asked authorities closely to monitor and to prosecute and condemn those responsible for racist acts.