Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Enlightened Europe
Today's Independent leads with the story that the EU Parliament has gained a new formal grouping of MEPs:
Claiming the backing of 23 million Europeans, ultra-nationalists secured enough MEPs to make a formal political grouping, underlining the growing challenge posed by the far right across the continent. For the first time since the Second World War a series of elections has swept nationalistic, far-right parties into office in municipal, regional, national and European parliament elections. The admission of Romania and Bulgaria in January of this year brought in enough far-right MEPs to form a bloc.
I'm particularly struck by this:
As a formal group, they are entitled to up to €1m in central funding.
The great majority of decent people in Europe will now be forced to pay the operational costs of people such as Anti-Semite Dimitar Stoyanov, who yesterday said that he opposed the " Jewish establishment" which used ordinary Jewish people "like pawns" (whatever that means). What a disgrace.
But, fear not... Our European values of liberalism and tolerance will be safe! Germany has the answer!
Germany yesterday moved to outlaw denial of the Holocaust, the parading of Nazi symbols, and racist speech across Europe, using a meeting of EU interior and justice ministers to call for jail terms of up to three years for the offences
If Voltaire had been alive and working in the European Union in the 21st Century, I have not the slightest doubt he would have thrown himself under a train long ago.
Witness enlightened Europe - battling the resurgence of fascism by introducing more communism. What happened?
# posted by Chris Hughes @ 1:17 pm 
