The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on racism, xenophobia and extremism, in particular that of 20 February 1997 on racism, xenophobia and the extreme right and that of 15 June 2006 on the increase in racist and homophobic violence in Europe,(1)

–  having regard to Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 13 of the EC Treaty, which commit the EU and its Member States to upholding human rights and fundamental freedoms and which provide the EU with the means of fighting racism, xenophobia and discrimination,

–  having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights,

–  having regard to the international human rights instruments which prohibit discrimination based on racial and ethnic origin, and notably the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), both signed by all the EU Member States and a large number of third States,

–  having regard to European Union activities to fight racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and homophobia, in particular the anti-discrimination Directives 2000/43/EC, implementing the principle of equal treatment of persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, and 2000/78/EC, establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, and having regard to the framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia,

–  having regard to Resolution 1344 (29 September 2003) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on ‘The threat posed to democracy by extremist parties and movements in Europe’,

–  having regard to the Report on Racism and Xenophobia in the Member States of the EU in 2007, published by the Fundamental Rights Agency,

–  having regard to the OSCE document ‘Challenges and responses to hate-motivated incidents in the OSCE region’ (October 2006),

–  having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  seriously concerned at the resurgence in Europe of extremist movements and parties which base their ideology and their political practices and conduct on intolerance and discrimination, including racism, incitement to religious hatred, exclusion, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Gypsyism, homophobia, misogyny and ultra-nationalism,

B.  whereas this ideology is incompatible with the principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law set out in Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union, which reflect the values of diversity and equality upon which the European Union is built,

C.  whereas no Member State is immune to the intrinsic threats that extremist movements pose to democracy and whereas combating the spread of violent political and religious attitudes is therefore a Europe-wide challenge that requires a joint, coordinated approach,

D.  whereas public personalities are expected to refrain from making statements that might be understood as encouraging the stigmatisation of groups of people,

E.  whereas the existence of public and easily accessible websites which incite to hatred raises serious concerns as to how to counteract this problem without violating freedom of expression,

1.  Strongly condemns all racist and hate attacks, calls upon all national authorities to do everything in their power to punish those responsible, and expresses its solidarity with all victims of such attacks and their families;

2.  Points out that fighting extremism must not have any negative effects on the permanent obligation to respect fundamental rights and fundamental legal principles, including freedom of expression and association, as enshrined in Article 6 of the EU Treaty;

3.  Notes that the increasing number of extreme-right organisation, which often contain neo‑fascist elements, and of extreme-left organisations, tends to exacerbate fears in society that can lead to manifestations of racism in a broad range of areas, including employment, housing, education, health, policing, access to goods and services and the media;

4.  Urges the Commission and Council to lead the search for appropriate political and legal responses, especially at the preventive stage, especially in terms of young people’s education and public information, teaching against totalitarianism and disseminating the principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in order to keep alive the memory of European history; asks the Member States to develop policies of education for democratic citizenship based on citizens’ rights and responsibilities;

5.  Calls on the European institutions to give a clear mandate to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights to investigate the structures of extreme right-wing and extreme left-wing groups in order to ascertain whether some of them coordinate their work across the European Union or at regional level;

6.  Urges all democratic political forces, regardless of ideology, to refuse any support to extremist parties of a racist or xenophobic character, whether explicit or implicit, and hence also any alliance whatsoever with their elected representatives; reiterates its belief that public personalities should refrain from making statements that encourage or incite to hate or stigmatisation of groups of people on the basis of their race, ethnic origin, religion, handicap, sexual orientation or nationality; believes that public personalities who incite to hatred are to be considered an aggravating circumstance when dealing with hate speech;

7.  Requests all Member States at least to provide for the possibility of withdrawing public funding from political parties that do not abide by human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law as set out in the ECHR and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and calls on those that already have this possibility to use it without delay;

8.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Governments of the Member States and the Council of Europe.

(1) Texts adopted: P6_TA(2006)0273.