WRITTEN QUESTION P-1262/00

by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission

(12 April 2000)

Subject: Thought control directed against the EU Member States

According to the respected Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende of 4 April 2000, Commissioner Barnier has indicated in a conversation with a group of Scandinavian journalists that he has a proposal ready for introducing a system of thought control directed against the EU Member States.

It transpires from the article that the Commissioner believes that existing EU legislation, i.e. Article 7 of the EU Treaty which authorises sanctions against Member States in serious and persistent breach of the principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights, is too difficult to implement. He believes, according to Berlingske Tidende, that there is a need for the Commission or the Council to monitor continuously democratic developments in the Member States so that, in the event of political developments in a country that are undesirable in the eyes of the Commission or the Council, internal sanctions can rapidly be implemented against that country.

According to the available information, this is not about the EU needing to be able to impose sanctions rapidly in the event of a military coup or similar move against the democratically elected government of a country such guidelines already exist but about the EU wanting to determine what attitudes and opinions may be held by the populations in the Member States. As a follow-up to the campaign against Austria, this has to be construed as meaning that only social democratic, socialist and related views will be acceptable.

It therefore looks as though measures such as the sanctions by the 14 heads of government against Austria, which were planned under the aegis of the Council but which are not authorised under existing EU legislation, are now to be provided with a legal basis within the EU. It is of the utmost importance that these plans should immediately be brought into the public domain since they clearly represent an attempt at regimentation and thought control on classic totalitarian lines.

Will the Commission inform the peoples of Europe of the contents of the proposal for thought control which Commissioner Barnier will have ready for consideration by May at the latest?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(25 May 2000)

Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union states: The Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, principles which are common to the Member States. The Commission, as a Union institution, attaches great important to respect for these fundamental rights, and particularly to the right of freedom of thought and expression as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union currently being drafted in accordance with the decision taken at the Cologne and Tampere European Councils confirms the Union's attachment to the defence of these rights.

Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union lays down a procedure allowing the Union to suspend certain of the rights of a Member State which has committed a serious and persistent breach of the principles laid down in Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union. Some delegations in the negotiating group at the present intergovernmental conference on institutional reform have suggested that it might be appropriate to insert in the Treaty a special alert or monitoring provision to guard against any breach of these principles. The purpose of such a mechanism would be to encourage public debate and an exchange of ideas on the values on which the Union is based, but certainly not, as the Honourable Member seems to fear, thought control. The Commission, which is a participant in the intergovernmental conference, has taken part in some preliminary internal exchanges of ideas on the subject, but has not yet taken a position.