Leo van Doesburg

40 Members of the European Parliament sent a letter to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, to the President of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea, and to the President of the Senate Calin Popescu Tariceanu. They asked them to respect the sovereignty of their own people and to organize without delay the referendum on the definition of marriage that was requested by 3 million Romanian citizens. The referendum is currently being postponed by more and more procedural delays.

As written in my previous post,  there are five main reasons to vote AGAINST the Noichl Initiative Report, EU Strategy for Equality between Women and Men post 2015 that you need to keep in mind while voting next Tuesday, 9th June.  Most important arguments are as follows   48% of the Noichl Report’s paragraphs are in clear contradiction to the EU Principle of Subsidiarity. 35% of paragraphs are «off topic» with regard to the subject of the report: Strategy on Equality between men and women post 2015. 17% of paragraphs entail serious risks of restrictions on freedom of speech of the media, freedom of education and freedom in the context of contractual agreements. Seven Considerations (from S to X) introduce non-scientific based elements , as well as unfounded allegations. (Source Europe for Family): (You can find the Noichl report here)

Reasonable accommodation for Christians in the work place is needed in Europe. On the 29 th of January, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) accepted with a large majority (67 against 2) the Valeriu Ghiletchi’s resolution  on “Tackling intolerance and discrimination in Europe with a special focus on Christians.”   The resolution (and it's explanatory report) stresses the intolerance and discrimination on grounds of religion or belief towards minority religious groups in Europe and people belonging to a major religious group. The report states that “ Numerous acts of hostility, violence and vandalism have been recorded in recent years against Christians and their places of worship, but these acts are often overlooked by the national authorities .” 

We want to have Human Rights for All, Not Special Rights for One Shortly after the Estrela report was defeated, a new initiative has been introduced, the “Lunacek Report” officially known as “EU Roadmap against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity” (2013/2183). Adopted by the European Parliament Committee for Civil Liberties (LIBE), the European Parliament will vote on this report next week on 4 February. I agree when the Report asserts that LGBTI persons should have the same human rights as everyone else. This is an assertion that can be fully supported. The very purpose of Human Rights, the European Convention and other international human rights documents is to grant a minimum level of protection of the integrity of every person because everyone has equal worth and dignity. However, the Lunacek Report turns this fundamental equality upside down by claiming that specific LGBTI rights should now be considered as human...

On the 17th of May ( on International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia) , the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) presented the results of the largest LGTB survey ever on experiences of hate crime and discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGTB) people during a conference hosted by the Dutch Government in The Hague. In this (370,000 Euros-taxpayer-Euro) report, the shocking claim has been made that a quarter of the 93.000 LGBT people that answered the questionnaire said that they had become victims of physical violence in the past and claimed that this is the largest LGTB survey ever on Hate Crimes and Discrimination. With pride this report was presented and even new Queen Maxima of the Netherlands participated at the opening.    However, if you look carefully to the report and the procedures how these results were obtained, then serious questions raise about the credibility of both this report and their results.  Please find here a critica...

The parliamentary assembly of the OSCE recommends that a "public debate on intolerance and discrimination against Christians be initiated and that the right of Christians to participate fully in public life be ensured" (12); that, "in view of discrimination and intolerance against Christians, that legislation in the participating States, including labour law, equality law, laws on freedom of expression and assembly, and laws related to religious communities and right of conscientious objection be assessed" (13); and "encourages the media not to spread prejudices against Christians and to combat negative stereotyping" (15); and "encourages Christian churches to continue their participation in public life contributing to the defence of the dignity of all human beings and to freedom and social cohesion" (16).  Source: http://www.intoleranceagainstchristians.eu

I was surprised to learn about the strong pressure on the Macedonian government following the adoption of the new anti-discrimination law that does not mention sexual orientation. It is interesting that these emotional discussions mainly base themselves on vague terms like “European values” and “European standards”. Even the European Commission reminded Macedonia that its anti-discrimination legislation should be in line with the “Charter of Fundamental Rights”, part of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. What was interesting was that the Charter was only used for Article 21 (where “Sexual orientation” is protected). The consequences for other rights like “the freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Art. 10 of the Charter) or for the “Freedom of Expression and information” (Art. 11 of the Charter) were mainly forgotten in these discussions. Furthermore I found it strange that the pressure did not start from Macedonian society, but mainly from abroad: from ambassadors, certain European Parliam...