EU:After six years of debate EU justice ministers have agreed to introduce a controversial law designed to combat xenophobia across the union.
However, the final text of the legislation has been weakened to such as extent that many member states, including Ireland, will not have to change their own laws.
At a meeting in Luxembourg yesterday EU justice ministers agreed to punish those who incited hatred or violence against others on the basis of race, colour or ethnic origin by between one and three years in jail. They also agreed to make public denial of specific genocides punishable, although member states can decide to limit the application of so-called "Holocaust denial" to acts that threaten public order.
EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini said the law demonstrated there were no safe havens for racism and xenophobia within Europe. "The fact that now Europe has a moral and political responsibility, and not only an economic one, is demonstrated by legislation like this one." The agreement was achieved after a last-minute compromise offered to a group of former communist member states including Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. They had wanted the legislation to include an explicit reference to "Stalinist crimes", not only the Holocaust and Rwandan genocides.
However, these states agreed to drop their request when EU justice ministers agreed to a public declaration that specifically deplored these crimes. The commission also agreed to hold a public hearing and conference on crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by totalitarian regimes. One such meeting will be held in one of the Baltic states and a second will be held in Slovenia, said EU diplomats.
Because of its history, current holder of the presidency Germany had pushed hard to get agreement on the racism law. German justice minister Brigitte Zypries welcomed the law and dismissed criticism that the proposed conference on genocide would involve rewriting history. "We are not historians we are not deciding on history . . . it's simply a question of having a discussion and raising awareness," she said.
The debate on the law lasted six years, principally over fears that it would limit freedom of speech. Several states, including Germany and Austria, already have legislation outlawing Holocaust denial, while states such as Britain and Ireland do not.
However, compromises allowing member states flexibility to prosecute people if their actions incited violence or provoked public disorder enabled the more sceptical to sign up to the legislation. Consequently, Irish historians can debate the existence or scope of the Holocaust if they are not provoking public disorder.
Graham Watson, leader of the Liberals in parliament, criticised the agreement as illiberal and nonsensical. "The proposed list risks opening the floodgates on a plethora of historical controversies - like the crimes of the Stalinist regime or the alleged Armenian genocide - whose inclusion could pose a grave threat to freedom of speech. The EU has no business legislating on history."