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(English Version) Question for Written Answer E (English version) Question for written answer E-009352/12 to the Commission Raül Romeva i Rueda (Verts/ALE) (15 October 2012) Subject: Racist campaign against street beer vendors in Barcelona Throughout Europe the economic crisis is giving rise to xenophobic organisations and public policies that are making immigrants the scapegoats for popular discontent. Organisations such as the neo Nazi party ‘Golden Dawn’ in Greece, or ‘Platform for Catalonia’, do not hesitate to use indiscriminate violence and act with impunity. The most recent campaign by Barcelona City Council is helping to spread biased and reductionist ideas. The campaign against street sales of beer could be considered racist because it dehumanises the vendors, depicting them as arms rising up from foul smelling sewers and bins. It therefore associates the vendors with insalubrity and the possibility of falling ill, and indirectly blames them for the closure of traditional leisure venues. Council Decision 2008/913/JHA states that ‘Racism and xenophobia are direct violations of the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, principles upon which the European Union is founded and which are common to the Member States.’ 1. Does the Commission consider that Barcelona City Council is promoting racism and xenophobia in Europe with this campaign? Will it ask the city council to withdraw its campaign? 2. Will the Commission ask the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia to assess the impact in Catalonia and Spain of the institutionalisation of racism by the various local and autonomous governments, and by the Spanish central government? Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission (29 November 2012) According to the information available to the European Commission, the campaign referred to by the Honourable Member is targeted against illegal sale of drinks on the streets. The Commission strongly condemns all forms and manifestations of racism and xenophobia and recalls that public authorities should avoid any statements which could stigmatise groups of people or individuals for instance on the basis of their ethnic or national origin. Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA specifically bans the intentional public incitement to violence or hatred targeted against a group of people or a member of such group, defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin (1). However, it is for national authorities, such as the police and courts, to investigate any concrete cases and to determine whether they can be considered as intentional public incitement to violence or hatred on the mentioned grounds. The Commission is monitoring the implementation of the framework Decision closely. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, which was set up in 2007 to replace the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), is an independent agency which collects, analyses and disseminates objective and comparable data on fundamental rights issues across the EU. Within the remit of its mandate, the Agency has already carried out studies on racism in the EU Member States, for instance on the experiences of discrimination and criminal victimisation by certain ethnic minority and immigrant groups (2). |(⋅1∙|) For further information, please see http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/racism-xenophobia/framework-decision/index_en.htm |(⋅2∙|) Publications derived from the results of this European Union Minorities and Discrimination survey (EU-MIDIS) are available at http://fra.europa.eu/en/survey/2012/eu-midis-european-union-minorities-and-discrimination-survey..
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