WRITTEN QUESTION E-3923/00

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission

(13 December 2000)

Subject: Increase in xenophobia in Europe

The annual report recently published by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia notes a significant increase in racism in the European Union. Dr Beate Winkler, the Director of the Centre, noted that Sweden, France, Germany and many other countries are showing an alarming rise in cases of racist violence, the main victims of which are African and Arab immigrants, Albanians and Roma, while at the same time there has also been an increase in attacks on synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, and mosques. The 1999 report by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia also stresses the significant increase in the use of the Internet by neo-Nazi organisations to promote their political and racist propaganda.

The declaration by the European Conference against Racism held in Strasbourg last month stresses that Europe is a community of shared values, multicultural in its past, present and future. How effective are the measures taken by the Commission and in what way is it possible to honour the Strasbourg commitments to combat racism and racist discrimination, xenophobia, religious fanaticism, intolerance, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, which threaten democratic societies and their fundamental values?

Answer given by Ms Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 2001)

The Commission shares the Honourable Member's concern about the many acts of racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic violence perpetrated in various Member States and mentioned in the annual report of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. These acts of violence cannot be tolerated in a Union that is based on the principles of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and basic freedoms and the rule of law.

Amsterdam gave the Union the necessary legal instruments to combat racism and xenophobia at European level.

On the one hand, the provisions of the Treaty on European Union concerning police and judicial cooperation explicitly provide for the Union to take action to prevent and combat racism and xenophobia. Accordingly, the new Article 29 of the Treaty on European Union includes the preventing and combating of racism and xenophobia among the priorities for creating an area of freedom, security and justice. In October 1999, at the Tampere European Council devoted to the implementation of the area of freedom, security and justice, the Heads of State and Government once again stressed the importance of European cooperation in this area.

In 1996, the Council adopted a Joint Action to combat racism and xenophobia, the main objective of which is to ensure effective judicial cooperation between Member States in the fight against these phenomena and to prevent the perpetrators of such offences from exploiting the differences in legislation within the Union to avoid criminal proceedings. It provides in particular, pending the adoption of provisions to make this type of behaviour a criminal offence, for Member States to derogate from the principle of double criminality in this area. Given the increase in the number of racist offences in the Member States, and especially the growing use of the Internet to commit offences of this kind, as was recently pointed out by two rulings by one French and one German court, the Commission intends to strengthen European criminal provisions in this area by proposing to the Council the adoption of a Council framework directive concerning racist and xenophobic activities both off-line and on-line. This text will take account of the replies to the questionnaire to evaluate the implementation of the Joint Action of 15 July 1996, which was sent to the Member States by the Presidency on 12 December 2000. This point will also be mentioned in the forthcoming Commission communication on combating cybercrime.

On the other hand, on the basis of Article 13 (ex Article 6a) of the EC Treaty, the Council, on 29 June 2000, adopted Directive 2000/43/EC implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin(1) and, on 27 November 2000, Directive 2000/78/EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation(2).

In this connection, on 27 November 2000 the Council adopted Decision 2000/750/EC establishing a Community action programme to combat discrimination (2001 to 2006)(3), with the objective of supporting and supplementing Community anti-discrimination legislation by improving the understanding of the problem, strengthening the ability of the players to take action and raising awareness.

As part of the preparatory measures for the implementation of the action programme, in 1999 and 2000 the Commission published calls for proposals that make it possible to provide support, within the limits of the resources available, for proposals which are conducted as part of a transnational partnership, cover at least two forms of discrimination referred to in Article 13 of the EC Treaty, are useful for the Community and can make a significant contribution to the future development and the implementation of Community policy in this area. The result of the evaluation that is currently under way on the measures carried out in 1999 will be disseminated in March 2001.

The European Monitoring Centre also contributes to the combating of racism and xenophobia, and the establishment of the European Racism and Xenophobia Information Network (raxen), which was launched in 2000, will provide significant impetus to the work of the Community and the Member States in the future.

Lastly, the Commission is in the process of incorporating the combating of racism into other Community policies. An evaluation report drawn up by independent experts has just taken stock of the way in which the anti-racism dimension has been taken into account in Community policies hitherto, and will thus make it possible for the Commission to draw up a set of guidelines and proposals for implementation, in order to, among other things, broaden the scope of the fight against racism in areas of the Commission's work that have not yet been concerned, so that this dimension becomes a fully-fledged strategic objective.

(1) OJ L 180, 19.7.2000.

(2) OJ L 303, 2.12.2000.

(3) OJ L 303, 2.12.2000.