Three new crimes

Telecom package, digital dividend, maritime package, energy prices, world financial crisis: these are some of the issues addressed by the European Parliament during the plenary sitting held last week (September 22-25) in Brussels. As often happens, the reports equally addressed social, cultural and international politics issues. The Assembly rejected a resolution proposal regarding the Commission’s legislation priorities for 2009.Fight against terrorism: three new crimes. MEPs, consulted in the framework of the EU strategy against terrorism, advocated the need to harmonize national legislations in order to prosecute three new crimes: “the public incitement to terrorism”, “recruitment for terrorism” and “terrorist training”. These “should become indictable offences even when they are perpetrated through the Internet”. The report submitted by French MEP Roselyne Lefrançois, passed with a majority vote. However the Assembly pointed out that the fight against terrorism must equally ensure the protection of citizens’ rights, “such as the freedom of expression, of press, and association” and that no limit should be posed on the “diffusion of information for scientific, academic or communication purposes”. Special emphasis was placed on the fact that EU measures against terrorism “ought to be conducted in close cooperation with regional and local authorities”, “since the perpetrators and the instigators of acts of terrorism live in close contacts with the local communities and population, availing themselves of their services and democracy tools”. Pluralism and media freedom. At the end of a long debate, the Euro-Chamber gave the green light (with 307 ayes, 262 no-votes and 28 abstentions) to a blueprint submitted by Estonian MEP Marianne Mikko envisaging the protection of media pluralism, along with its independence from political powers and free media market. MEPs called for the adoption of a directive ensuring “EU citizens’ free access to diversified media throughout the Member States”. TV, newspapers, radio and the Internet “represent a tool for political influence”, while attention was drawn upon the fact that the media “risks loosing its democracy-monitoring function”. The Assembly thus deemed necessary to establish a legal framework “that will ensure a high level of pluralism”; to implement fair competition rules to contain ownership concentration; to issue a “charter for media freedom” along with “objective criteria in TV frequency allocation”; and “editorial statues” that “will prevent owners’, shareholders’, or external bodies’ interferences in the content of the news”.Over 1500 complaints in a year. During the works, MEPs approved the report of Spanish MEP David Hammerstein regarding the Commission complaints activity in the year 2007. Accordingly, citizens increasingly turn to the European Parliament, a right envisaged by Community Treaties, to file complaints regarding the infringement of EU legislation throughout the 27 Member States and see that justice be done. Hammerstein explained that in the past year “1,506 complaints (+ 50% compared to 2006) were filed to the European Parliament. Of these, 1,089 were deemed “admissible”. Spain “is the Member State that filed the highest number of complaints (254), followed by Germany (212), Romania (143) and Italy (126)” and then by Greece, Poland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Bulgaria. “Out of all the complaints, 288 addressed environmental issues, 226 fundamental rights, 297 social affairs and discrimination”. Other issues include consumer protection, urbanization questions, health and education. The European Parliament thus called Member States and regional and local authorities to “the respect of EU regulations and directives”.Combating child trafficking. The majority of MEPs endorsed a statement – which thus represents the Assembly’s official stand – requesting Member States “to recognize the fight against child trafficking as an objective priority of national policies for child protection”. The document states that child trafficking is a “persistent problem”, whereby “over two million children are the objects of trafficking, hard labour and sexual exploitation”. MEPs urged to intensify cross-border cooperation between the legal authorities and the police.