The European Commission plans to withdraw its proposal to make hate speech and hate crime EU-wide criminal offenses after the bid stalled in the Council of the EU, the Epoch Times reported.
The Commission announced the decision on Nov. 4, the Epoch Times said. It concerns an initiative unveiled in December 2021 to add hate speech and hate crime to the list of EU crimes in Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, alongside terrorism, human trafficking and cybercrime. Doing so required the unanimous approval of member states and the consent of the European Parliament, which would then have let the Commission set common minimum definitions and penalties across the bloc. Parliament backed the idea in January 2024 by 397 votes to 121, with 26 abstentions. The Council never reached the unanimity needed.
The Commission is considering a directive to combat online incitement to violence and hatred instead, the Epoch Times reported. Alliance Defending Freedom International said on Nov. 9 that incitement to violence is already a crime, while proposals aimed at "incitement to hatred" have been used in some countries to prosecute peaceful expression, and that the plan risks becoming "yet another tool to silence disfavored views and strengthen the [Digital Servic
