RIGA - The European Parliament passed a long awaited law on April 19 making the denial of the Holocaust and other genocides a crime punishable by up to three years in jail. The Parliament rejected, however, demands made by the Baltic states that the denial of crimes committed by Stalin be given the same status.
The debate raged for hours, and the ability of Parliament to pass the laws at all was put at risk, as the three Baltic states insisted that the law include a clause to make illegal the "condoning, denial or trivialization of crimes against humanity" committed under the Stalinist Soviet regime.
Most of the other EU member states were opposed to the demands. Other member states argued that they do not legally recognize the crimes and atrocities committed under the Stalinist Soviet regime as genocide, and thus they should not be covered by the law. They also expressed fears that allowing the inclusion of a denial of Stalin's crimes would open the floodgates to a variety of groups who are interested in righting historical injustices and the legislation would spin out of control.
As a political gesture of compromise with the Baltic states, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said that the EU would organize public hearings "on the horrible crimes" committed during the Stalin era sometime in the next few months. The events are still awaiting parliamentary approval in seven EU countries.
The new legislation makes it illegal to deny certain internationally recognized genocide, including the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s. In addition to banning the denial of crimes against humanity, the legislation includes sections making acts of racism, xenophobia, and hate crimes illegal. The legislation makes "publicly inciting to violence or hatred ... directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, color, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin" a Europe-wide crime punishable with jail time.
Frattini explained that the laws are aimed at sending a strong message of Europe's commitment to fighting a growing trend of racism and anti-Semitism, adding that the EU has "a moral authority to reaffirm ... values of tolerance, of refusal of any kind of violence." Laws against denying the Holocaust already exist in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and in many of these cases the national legislation goes much further than the new EU rules.
The idea to implement a common EU legislative act criminalizing racism, xenophobia, and genocide denial has been under debate since 2001. In 2005, Luxembourg tried to use its position as holder of the rotating EU presidency to push through anti-racism legislation, but the move was blocked by the Italian government on the grounds that it threatened freedom of speech. Germany made it a priority to get the legislation through by the end of its presidency, citing a "particular historic responsibility" to do so.
The new legislation is primarily symbolic in nature, outlining a minimum level of harmonization for EU member states. The version of the law that was passed on April 19 is significantly weaker than the previous two versions, but still draws criticism for infringement on free speech. Scandinavian countries, along with Britain and Italy, have all expressed concern that the law conflicts with their constitutionally enshrined free speech.
The legislation has also been criticized by human rights groups for not including the denial of the massacre of Armenians after World War One. Turkey still denies that the incident was genocide, attributing the deaths of up to one million Armenians to ethnic strife, disease and famine. The country has even prosecuted historians and journalists for referring to it as genocide.
The law has been criticized by European racism watchdogs as being too weak in its new form and lacking substantial intent to provide strengthened protections to the victims of hate crimes. Likewise, Muslim leaders accused the EU of having double standards, arguing that the law protects established Christian religions and outlaws anti-Semitism while doing nothing to defend Muslims against defamation.
The Baltic states noted that their respective parliaments would still have to pass the appropriate laws before the directive can go into effect. The new legislation is not directly legally binding for EU members, but rather requires that they implement national laws of appropriate strength to coincide with the EU legislation.
