ISSUE 2112Wednesday 7 March 2001
Euro-court outlaws criticism of EU
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels
European Court of Justice
Now it's blasphemy to mock Europe [Dec '00] - The Spectator
Criticism of the EU [27 Nov '00] - The Stationery Office
Address by Bernard Connolly [29 Mar '96] - Centre Party of Sweden
Bernard Connolly - Bahnhof Internet
Star Chamber, Court of - Encyclopedia Britannica
Attainder - New Advent
Sacheverell, Henry [seditious libel] - The Columbia Encyclopedia
European Court of Human Rights
THE European Court of Justice ruled yesterday that the European Union can
lawfully suppress political criticism of its institutions and of leading
figures, sweeping aside English Common Law and 50 years of European
precedents on civil liberties.
The EU's top court found that the European Commission was entitled to sack
Bernard Connolly, a British economist dismissed in 1995 for writing a
critique of European monetary integration entitled The Rotten Heart of
Europe.
The ruling stated that the commission could restrict dissent in order to
"protect the rights of others" and punish individuals who "damaged the
institution's image and reputation". The case has wider implications for
free
speech that could extend to EU citizens who do not work for the Brussels
bureaucracy.
The court called the Connolly book "aggressive, derogatory and insulting",
taking particular umbrage at the author's suggestion that Economic and
Monetary Union was a threat to democracy, freedom and "ultimately peace".
However, it dropped an argument put forward three months ago by the
advocate-general, Damaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, which implied that Mr
Connolly's criticism of the EU was akin to extreme blasphemy, and therefore
not protected speech.
Mr Connolly, who has been told to pay the European Commission's legal costs,
said the proceedings did not amount to a fair hearing. He said: "We're back
to the Star Chamber and Acts of Attainder: the rights of defendants are not
respected or guaranteed in any way; the offence of seditious libel has been
resurrected."
Mr Colomer wrote in his opinion last November that a landmark British case
on
free speech had "no foundation or relevance" in European law, suggesting
that
the European Court was unwilling to give much consideration to British legal
tradition.
Mr Connolly now intends to take his case to Europe's other court, the non-EU
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
