Politik - Schwerpunkt EU
19.9.2009, c-fam.org: Das Europaparlament hat mit 349 zu 219 stimmen Litauen verurteilt für das litauische Gesetz zum Minderheitenschutz, das Werbung für homosexuelle, bisexuelle und
polygame Beziehungen unter Kindern unter 18 Jahren in diesem baltischen Land verbieten. Konservative Kritiker bringen vor, dass diese Maßnahme, getroffen in Reaktion auf das Gesetz eines souveränen Mitgliedsstaates
zum Schutz der Familie, die Autorität des Parlaments übersteigt.
Die Resolution leitet die Agentur für Grundrechte an darüber nachzudenken, ob das Gesetz den Europäischen Anti-Diskriminierungsstandards widerspricht. Eine solche Meinung wäre rechtlich
nicht bindend, aber Aktivisten würden dies sicherlich benutzen, um für eine Anerkennung von Rechten aufgrund von “Sexueller Orientierung” zu drängen.
An earlier proposal by the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the "liberal" parliamentary faction, would have initiated
proceedings to suspend Lithuania pursuant to article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, the 1992 pact that created the European Union (EU). Parliamentarians principally affiliated with the Christian Democratic
grouping, the European People's Party (EPP), worked behind the scenes to soften the resolution and remove the Article 7 reference.
While "progressive" parliamentarians lined up to charge Lithuania
with promoting "homophobia," several EPP and conservative members spoke in opposition to the measure and in support of the country's sovereign right to pass laws protecting families and children, including
Lithuania's first post-Soviet head of state Vytautas Landsbergis and Slovakian parliamentarian Anna Zaborkska.
Nevertheless, the EPP remained divided on the measure, with virtually every EPP member
from France voting to censure Lithuania. Surprisingly, Malta's delegation, including its two EPP representatives, voted as a bloc against Lithuania.
Lithuania's Parliament, or Seimas, passed the child
protection legislation in June. The President vetoed it, in apparent reaction to criticism from Western European politicians and homosexual advocacy organizations. In July, Lithuania's parliament overrode the veto.
The law is scheduled to take effect in March 2010.
David Quinn, Director of Ireland's Iona Institute and a family rights advocate, called the resolution "a completely unwarranted intrusion in the
domestic affairs of a member state." Critics such as Quinn see the non-discrimination principle, particularly with respect to sexual orientation, being used to trump long-enshrined values such as religious
liberty and parental rights. Quinn called anti-discrimination "the skeleton key that opens every room of the house."
Some observers expect the Parliamentary action to have repercussions in Ireland,
where the nation will vote in a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty next month.
While the EU has "guaranteed" that Ireland's constitutional protection of unborn life would be unaffected by a
"yes" vote on Lisbon, the European Parliament's action on Lithuania has fueled concerns among Irish euroskeptics that European institutions would seek to override the Republic's domestic laws. Among other
changes, the Lisbon Treaty would make the Charter of Fundamental Rights binding upon members. While silent on abortion, critics fear an activist European Court of Justice reading such a right into the charter.
Forty-six parliamentarians abstained on the Lithuanian resolution, including three Irish EPP members. The four Irish ALDE members broke with their party and voted against the resolution, a move insiders
see as tactical and intended to forestall criticism in advance of the Lisbon referendum.
22.7.2009, diepresse.com: EU Staaten dürfen Schulden verschleiern
|