Chris Davies welcomes decision not to criminalise Holocaust denial

Date published: 20 April 2007

An EU decision not to criminalise Holocaust denial has been welcomed by Rochdale Euro-MP Chris Davies.

The agreement reached this week to strengthen race-hate laws follows British practice by making it an offence to incite violence against specific groups.  However, the freedom to challenge historical aspects of the Holocaust will remain and there will be no Europe-wide ban on the use of Nazi symbols.

Mr Davies believes it is the right decision.

He said: "It would have been a mistake to make Holocaust denial an offence everywhere.  There are stupid people everywhere but in a free society they should have the right to be stupid."

"We can understand why such laws have been introduced in countries where Nazism had its roots, but they have not prevented the rise of some vicious racist groups.  An outright ban would have been used by them to portray democratic governments as oppressive."

The swastika symbol pre-dates Nazi use, and its use in other contexts has been defended by Hindus, Buddhists and other religions.

"I don't think people in Britain have ever had any trouble in recognising the swastika as a symbol of evil.  They are perfectly able to judge the character of a person who wears it.

"To ban symbols like this would serve no practical purpose and would simply give their covert use a cult status."

EU countries that have national laws against holocaust denial are: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.