MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
19.1.2005
pursuant to Rule 108(5) of the Rules of Procedure
by Hans-Gert Poettering, Ewa Klamt, Patrick Gaubert, Timothy Kirkhope and Bogusław Sonik
on behalf of the PPE-DE Group
on anti-Semitism
B6‑0076/2005
European Parliament resolution on anti-Semitism
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Articles 2, 6, 7 and 29 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 13 of the EC Treaty, which commit the Member States to upholding the highest standards of human rights and non-discrimination, and to the European Charter of Fundamental Rights,
– having regard to the report of its Committee of Inquiry into Racism and Xenophobia of 1990,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism of 27 October 1994, 27 April 1995, 26 October 1995, 30 January 1997 and 16 March 2000,
– having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1035/97 establishing a European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia and the reports ‘Manifestations of anti Semitism in the EU 2002-2003’, published by the EUMC, and ‘Perceptions of anti‑Semitism in the European Union’, both published in March 2004,
– having regard to the Berlin Declaration of the Second OSCE Conference on Anti‑Semitism, held in Berlin on 28-29 April 2004, and to the recent appointment of the Personal Representative on Combating Anti-Semitism,
– having regard to the Stockholm Declaration of the International Forum on the Holocaust held in Stockholm on 26-28 January 2000, which called for increased education on the Holocaust,
– having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas 60 years ago, on 27 January 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of Hitler’s extermination camps, built in May 1940 by the Germans in the suburbs of Oświęcim, was liberated,
B. whereas some of the greatest crimes in the history of mankind were committed in Auschwitz-Birkenau, where hundreds of thousands of Jews, Roma, Poles and prisoners of various nationalities such as Russians, Romanians, Hungarians, Czechs and Slovaks were murdered systematically and with premeditation; whereas from 1942 to 1944 the camp was the site of genocide perpetrated against European Jews as part of the Nazi plan for the total extermination of the Jewish people; whereas the prisoners were executed by firing squad or gassed, or died of hunger, disease and as a result of medical experiments, with the total number of victims estimated to be some 1.5 million people,
C. whereas Europe must not forget its own history: the concentration and extermination camps built by the German Nazis are among the most shameful and painful pages of the history of our continent; whereas the crimes committed at Auschwitz must live on in the memory of future generations, as a warning against genocide of this kind, rooted in contempt for other human beings, hatred, anti-Semitism, racism and totalitarianism,
D. whereas Europe must take a stand against attempts to falsify history with the spread of views which call into question the crimes committed by the Nazis; whereas attempts are also being made to shift responsibility for these crimes onto other nations, and to present the victims as oppressors,
E. whereas anti-Semitism continues to be manifested through attacks on, and desecration of, religious sites and public institutions such as synagogues, cemeteries, cultural centres and others, as well as against members of Jewish communities in Europe,
F. whereas recent years have seen a disturbing upsurge in anti-Semitic attacks in various Member States, and whereas these attacks have increasingly not been committed by those extreme far-right groups normally associated with anti-Semitic attacks but also, increasingly, by radical Islamist and extreme radical left groups,
G. whereas discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds continues to be practised at various levels, notwithstanding the important measures adopted by the European Union in application of Article 13 of the EC Treaty,
1. Pays homage to all those who lost their lives at the hands of Hitler’s butchers;
2. Points out that a remembrance of its history forms the basis for lasting peace and reconciliation in Europe;
3. Rejects and condemns revisionist views as shameful and contrary to historical truth;
4. Calls on the institutions of the European Union, the Member States and all European democratic political parties to:
- –condemn all acts of intolerance and of incitement to racial hatred, as well as all acts of harassment or racist violence,
- –condemn in particular and without reserve all forms of anti-Semitism however expressed,
- –condemn in particular all acts of violence motivated by religious or racial hatred or intolerance, including attacks against religious places, sites and shrines belonging to Jewish, Muslim or other faiths, as well as against minorities such as the Roma;
5. Urges the European Council and the Commission, as well as the various levels of local, regional and national government in the Member States, to take all necessary steps to coordinate their actions to combat racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism;
6. Urges the European Council and the Commission to ensure that school programmes in the 25 EU countries address the teaching of the Second World War with the utmost historical rigour and set the current fight against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism against the background of the Shoah (Holocaust);
7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and candidate countries.