… while the EU stands up for Denmark

By Michael Farrugia

Date: 16/02/06

Participants in a debate at the European Parliament on newspaper cartoons of Muhammad defended European traditions of freedom of speech while stressing their respect for Islam.

Opening the debate yesterday (15 February) Austria's State Secretary Hans Winkler said on behalf of the Austrian presidency: "We need to be able to disagree with each other peacefully...we also have to stand firm by our values in the defence of freedom of expression."

Commission President José Manuel Barroso said: "Let us be clear, a boycott of Danish goods is by definition a boycott of European goods."

But he added that: "Freedom of religion is not negotiable. Just as Europe respects freedom of speech so it must and does respect freedom of religion."

Emphasising the solidarity of the EU with Denmark, Hans-Gert Pöttering, leader of the centre-right EPP-ED group said: "If you take action against one country of the European Union, you take action against all member states of the EU."

He appealed to all those involved in the conflict.

"We must not respond to polemic with polemic, to aggression with aggression...in a social order defending freedom of expression there must be a sensitivity for certain limits like the respect for religious feelings of others."

For the Socialist group, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark, said: "Freedom of speech cannot be compromised but freedom of speech does not operate in a vacuum. It must and should be used in a responsible way...we in Europe do not want to add fuel to the fire of extremists."

Frank Vanhecke, of the Belgian extreme-right Vlaams Belang, said: "It is shameful to me how little solidarity European governments have shown with Denmark.

"Anyone who responds to this with a thinly disguised veil for censorship is an accomplice of this intimidation."

Danish Liberal MEP Karin Riis-Jørgensen said: "These global tensions have merely increased support for the far right...we must not let extremists triumph at the expense of the majority."

Article reports on a debate at the European Parliament on freedom of expression and respect for religion in the light of the controversy over caricatures of the prophet Mohammad, first published in a Danish newspaper.

European Parliament: Press Service: MEPs debate freedom of expression and respect for religious belief, 15.2.06 http://europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/017-5266-46-2-7-902-20060214IPR05265-15-02-2006-2006--false/default_en.htm

---