No place for hate: a Europe united against hatred

The Commission adopted a Communication on “No place for hate: a Europe united against hatred”. The Communication sets out a series of actions to combat hate speech and hate crime in all its forms. In reference to the rise of antisemitism and Stars of David on buildings that are reminiscent of the darkest chapter of European history, Vice President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová said at the press conference:

“Now Europe must not lose the opportunity to do much better, to correct the horrible failure of the last century and to do everything to stop this. (...) States must protect the Jewish communities and people, and society should not tolerate it. Because passivity, apathy and indifference is just helping hate to grow.” 

She called on various civil society actors and recalled the responsibility of digital platforms:

“Digital platforms are a highway for intense communication. They are not a highway where you can drive without any limit or have the right to kill people”.

Calling on government, law enforcement, digital platforms, civil society, religious leaders, Vice President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas added:

“We are facing a very worrying situation and we have to avoid that the situation becomes worse. We have a spectacular rise of antisemitic incidents in the EU. But we also have probably a less visible, but still existing rise of anti-Muslim hatred. All this is incompatible with what Europe stands for.”

The Communication includes stepping up the work on combating hate speech online through an upgrade of the Code of conduct, including building a network of trusted flagger to address antisemitic online, measures to enhance the protection of places of worship via an increased budget of the Internal Security Fund, including 5 mio Euro dedicated to the security of Jewish communities and an upgrade to the role of Envoys of the current current Coordinators on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, on combating anti-Muslim hatred and on combating racism.

Watch press conference here: 

• EC press conference by European Commission Vice-Presidents Věra JOUROVÁ and Margaritis SCHINASon initiatives to fight hatred in the EU, as well as a package of measures concerning EU citizenship rights