Miroslavs Mitrofanovs (Verts/ALE). – Madam President, the European Union is based on common values. Among them is that of respect for all nations and minorities and equal treatment for all EU residents, regardless of their origin, native language or religion. For many decades, these principles promoted the peaceful coexistence of many peoples who had been mutual enemies in their recent past. Now the atmosphere in Europe is changing. The hate speech against minorities in a number of EU countries is no longer associated with marginal political radicals, but is becoming a part of the everyday rhetoric of mainstream politicians. I see this as the main problem.

The starting point for today’s discussion was some xenophobic attacks by Italian ruling politicians against the Roma minority but there are also examples of hate speech from other countries. Two months ago, Kārlis Šadurskis, the Latvian Minister for Education, appealing to the Latvian Parliament, spoke about tolerance regarding minorities and then, and I quote the Minister for Education, said: ‘Over-expressed tolerance and empathy [toward minorities] have been a threat to the Latvian state, and we have to make every effort to eliminate this.’ However, Jānis Iesalnieks, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Justice, publicly compared Latvian residents of Russian origin to insects that are difficult to get rid of. These statements have not received any criticism either from the Latvian ruling elite or in mainstream media.

This intolerant attitude towards part of the population opens the way to arrogant and aggressive behaviour against other nations and countries. I am sure, in these circumstances, the European Union must develop a centralised system of monitoring hate speech cases in the EU Member States in order, at least, to compensate for the absence of national discussion on such issues.

If we are not going to eliminate the dark corners of European political life, the political monsters will multiply there, come out and destroy Europe.