EU justice and interior ministers, meeting in Brussels, have dropped plans to ban the use of Nazi symbols after failing to agree on how that could help fight racism and anti-Semitism. Britain, Denmark, Hungary and Italy said banning symbols such as the swastika could curb freedom of expression. On the table was a proposal by Luxembourg's Justice minister, Luc Frieden, which states that combating racism should include a ban "on displaying symbols inciting hatred and violence" such as the swastika. German Justice minister Brigitte Zypries told reporters that any laws against the use of Nazi symbols, such as those in Germany and Austria, "should only be used to fight neo-Nazis." She said that the attempt to include a ban on such symbols was dropped because of opposition. Instead talks focussed on drafting common rules to fight racism and xenophobia.
During the talks, Frieden reiterated his call for countries to "act urgently" to agree to common rules to combat anti-Semitic and racist attacks, talks on which have been stalled since 2003. "We don't have time to mess around," he said, adding a reworked 2003 compromise draft would "either be accepted as is or we will do nothing." Frieden set an end-of-June deadline on reaching agreement.
