Yet more evidence that the term ‘hate speech’ is fast becoming a euphemism for any form of lawful discourse that progressives happen not to like for purely ideological reasons – as reported by Thomas O’Reilly for the European Conservative, the European Parliament is investigating a Flemish MEP for hate speech after he referred to EU asylum policy as a form of “organised replacement” at a plenary debate.
This is the fourth such investigation the parliamentary authorities have opened in relation to utterances proffered in the Chamber by Right-wing MEPs in the past year.
Tom Vandendriessche of Vlaams Belang, who has represented the Flemish separatists since 2019, made the comments at a Strasbourg debate marking the start of the Belgian presidency of the European Council earlier this week.
In reference to the hotly debated EU Migration Pact, Vandendriessche declared that the purpose of the pact and most EU policy on the matter was to “attract more migration”, in response to comments made by Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson on the need for Europe to accept additional migrants from the Global South.
“She wants to bring an additional one million migrants to Europe, on top of the many millions we already have,” Vandendriessche went on to say in Dutch, saying that this is the very definition of replacement migration.
Despite the function of the debate being to encourage ‘debate’ (the clue, if you look carefully, is in the descriptor), outraged progressive MEPs subsequently protested to the Maltese President of the Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who in turn swiftly announced that she would launch an investigation into Vandendriessche’s words and examine if they broke Parliament’s rules of conduct.
If found guilty by Parliamentary authorities of using hate speech, the Flemish MEP could face a fine or even suspension of his voting rights under the Parliament’s Rule of Procedure.
Commenting on the investigation, Mr. Vandendriessche told the European Conservative: “This EU is increasingly becoming an EUSSR where the opposition is persecuted for telling the truth.”
Last year, a trio of Left-wing female MEPs demanded an urgent investigation into three Right-wing colleagues, alleging that during a debate on women’s rights in the Chamber, they committed ‘hate speech’ when describing transgender women as the “biggest threat to women”, and positing a link between a rise in violence against women across Europe and what they said was the growing influence of Islam.
At the time, President Metsola quickly confirmed that parliamentary authorities would “look into it”.
EU Matrix, a leading Brussels-based analytical research agency, has predicted Left-wing parties risk losing seats across Europe to the Right in 2024, making a Right-wing majority in the EU Parliament a distinct possibility.
The anticipated rightward swing reflects a broader trend across national elections in Europe, where voters in countries such as Italy, Finland and Greece have increasingly elevated more Conservative and hard-Right parties.
Dr. Frederick Attenborough is the Communications Officer of the Free Speech Union.
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