03-02-2007

The German government stated that "in view of Germany's particular historical responsibility, the German EU Presidency has committed itself to returning the combating of racism and xenophobia throughout Europe to the political agenda". Germany's goal is to "attain minimum harmonisation of provisions on criminal liability for disseminating racist and xenophobic statements".

In its draft declaration entitled Outlawing Racism and Xenophobia Throughout Europe on the German EU Presidency website, Germany declares its aim to impose criminal liability on the following offences:

The maximum term of imprisonment for these offences would be one to three years. Concerning the last offence, member states could make criminal liability dependent upon the determination by a national or international court that a known event in history constituted genocide, a crime against humanity, or a war crime.

The Framework Decision also provides that "racist or xenophobic motives may be considered an aggravating factor in other criminal offences (such as bodily injury), or that such motives may be taken into consideration by the courts in fixing the penalty".

The draft proposal indicated that there is no wish "to prohibit specific symbols, such as swastikas". In 2005, Hungary, Denmark Italy and the UK opposed such a move, contributing at that time to the shelving of plans for common EU rules against racism and xenophobia.