Condemnation of Bulgarian observer's racist comments

2.31.25pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 9th Oct 2006

Last Friday, the Bulgarian Parliament voted on a declaration regarding "The scandal at the European Parliament caused by the Bulgarian observer Dimitar Stoyanov".

In response to that Members of European Parliament (MEPs) Els de GROEN Greens/lEFA group; Vihoria MOHACSI and Baroness Sarah LUDFORD from the ALDE group stated:

De GROEN

"The recent Anti-Romani statements made by Mr. Stoyanov do not correspond with European values. We do not welcome politicians making Anti- Romani and xenophobic statements. I appreciate the declaration of the Bulgarian Parliament and official statements of Bulgarian observers, who refute his comments on MEP Mrs. Livia Jaroka and recognize that such behaviour is inadmissible. Therefore, I invite my Bulgarian colleagues to strengthen their political capacity for the coming European Parliament elections and find their place under the European Union umbrella."

MOHACSI

"I consider that the ineffectiveness of Bulgarian legislative against public racist speech may lead to far worse consequences for the Roma living in Europe. For that reason, I wish to point out that racist speech is not something to trifle with. As some may be inclined to play down the effect of Mr. Stoyanov's remarks as simply irresponsible, I must caution that words often find eager ears and that not once in history racist propaganda has lead to segregation, pogroms, and ultimately the Holocaust. The fact that Mr. Stoyanov was able to propagate his poisonous convictions in what many call a bastion of human rights protection is indeed a very worrying development exactly because of the reputation the EP enjoys. I call on the colleagues to renew their efforts of having racism ousted from EU institutions since inaction gives a "green light" for those who would happily see the values of democracy and human rights overrun by xenophobic and racist totalitarianism."

LUDFORD

"I greatly appreciate the prompt and unambiguous statement by the Bulgarian parliament. This is not a question of any one nationality in Europe, but a virus of racism that is a threat to the body politic in all of our countries. Only by solidarity and firm action which is tough on racism and tough on the causes of racism such as ignorance, will we combat this insidious threat to social harmony and human rights in Europe."