91998E2842

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2842/98

by Hedy d'Ancona (PSE) to the Council

(28 September 1998)

Subject: Trial against representatives of the Greek Rainbow Party

On 14 October, Vasilis Romas, Costas Tasopoulos, Petros Vasiliades and Pavlos Voskopoulos will go on trial in Florina (Greece). These leading members of the Greek-Macedonian Rainbow Party (Venezito) are charged under article 192 of the Greek penal code. They are charged with having incited "mutual hatred between citizens" in September 1995 by displaying a sign in two languages (Greek and Macedonian) indicating the name of the party and the local section. After the sign had been removed by the local police, the local party office was attacked by a mob led by the mayor of Florina.

The official charge is that the combination of words used and "the fact that they were in a foreign language, and more specifically in a Slavic language, provoked and incited discord between various sections of the population in the region" and harked back to a "former terrorist organization of Slavic-speakers".

Venizito is an officially recognized political party which has twice participated in elections in Greece including in the 1994 European elections.

Is the Council aware of these facts and of the forthcoming trial against this political party? Does the Council consider that, in view of the criminal proceedings against the Rainbow Party, there can be said to be a breach of international treaty provisions which also apply to Greece? What steps does the Council intend to take to ensure that inter alia the fundamental freedom of choice of language is also respected in Greece?

Reply

(20/21 December 1998)

The Honourable Member is referred to the reply given to Question No E-1998/98.