BRUSSELS (EJP)--- The issue of Holocaust denial featured prominently at a public hearing Monday in the European parliament on how to combat racism and xenophobia in Europe.

MEPs discussed a German proposal to push through new rules that would make Holocaust denial a crime in the whole European Union.

While unanimous in their condemnation of those who deny the Holocaust, EU leaders are split over whether to criminalize such acts.

Two years ago, Luxembourg tried to use its EU presidency to push through legislation to unify legal standards for Holocaust denial but was blocked by Italy, Britain and Denmark on the grounds that the proposed rules breached freedom of speech and civil liberties.

Such legislation requires unanimity among the 27 EU member states.

As soon as possible

Citing its particular historic responsibility due to its Nazi past, Germany, which holds the six-month EU rotating presidency, has said it wants EU member states to adopt the proposed legislation as soon as possible.

Against a backdrop of increasing racist attacks in Europe, a German blueprint, says that racist declarations or Holocaust denial would not be prosecuted if they were expressed in a way that did not incite hatred against an individual or group of people.

At the hearing in Brussels, Martine Roure, a French Socialist MEP, spoke of the "necessity of including negationism" in the EU text.

She said that she understood the need to respect each member state’s history and traditions, adding:"Recent events, including in our own institution with Maciej Giertych’s publication suggesting that the Third Reich did no more than shut Jews into the ghettos they had themselves created, show that we must redouble our efforts to ban this type of historical minimisation which is a veiled form of anti-Semitism."

It would be, however, for each Member State to decide how to punish such acts.

At the hearing in Brussels, Martine Roure, a French Socialist MEP, spoke of the "necessity of including negationism" in the EU text.

Laws criminalizing Holocaust denial already exist in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Spain.

Freedom of speech

Stavros Lambrinidis, a Socialist Greek MEP said, on the other hand, that "freedom of speech is most important to be protected.

“There is no question that the Nazi genocide started with words and incitement to hatred but I wonder if sending some people to jail for their words would have saved us from the Holocaust or rather would have transformed them into heroes,” he added.

“There should be a clear line to define what should be punished. In democracy, freedom of speech should always be protected, in any circumstances. I come from a country which suffered a dictatorship and I consider it very dangerous to allow anybody to judge what can be said and what cannot".

In January, Justice European Commissioner Franco Frattini and German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries have urged stronger EU-wide efforts against racism and xenophobia.

A report by the EU Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna shows that’s the number of racist acts increased in 2006 by between 20 and 45 per cent depending on the member state.

“These alarming figures show the urgency of achieving a minimum of harmonisation in Europe, to include a common definition of racist and xenophobic behaviour to be subject to criminal penalties which are effective, proportionate and have a deterrent effect,” Roure said.