The Commission submitted a proposal on this issue two years ago, however, there has been no progress in the Council. Yesterday, the Civil Liberties Committee endorsed a draft report asking for the long-awaited progress on adding hate speech and hate crimes to the list of EU crimes.

The draft report, which was approved with 35 votes for, five against, and one abstention, seeks to ensure universal protection, with a special focus on targeted persons and vulnerable groups and communities, underlining that freedom of expression, as critical as it is for democracy, must not be exploited as a shield for hate speech and hate crimes.

It calls on the Commission to consider an “open-ended” approach, whereby hate speech and hate crimes would be assessed based on social dynamics.

The Commission and member states should further act against misuse of the internet and social media, as micro-targeted advertising in particular contributes to spreading and amplifying hate speech and inciting discrimination and violence, MEPs stated.

Particular attention should be paid to minors, especially vulnerable ones, so they can be afforded special protection from incidents like bullying in schools and cyberbullying.

The report calls on the Council to adopt the decision with the activation of the “passerelle clause”, bypassing the unanimity requirement.

Three years have passed since Commission President von der Leyen first announced her intention to extend the list of EU crimes to all forms of hate crime and hate speech in 2020.

Currently, member states’ criminal laws deal with hate speech and hate crime in different ways, while EU-wide rules exist only when such crimes are against a group of persons or a member of such group defined by reference to race, skin colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin, which makes it difficult to implement a successful common strategy to effectively combat hatred.

In Malta, convicted hate speech or actions carry a sentence of imprisonment for a term from six to 18 months. This includes the intent to stir up violence or hatred against others on the grounds of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, colour, language, ethnic origin, age, disability, religion or belief, or political or another opinion.

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Do you think that these should be added as crimes under EU law