04/09/2013 Political Affairs and Democracy
Strasbourg, 04.09.2013 - Xenophobia and anti-Europeanism seem to go hand in hand in many countries across the European continent, stressed experts at a hearing on counteraction to manifestations of neo-Nazism and xenophobia, organised by the PACE Political Affairs Committee in Paris today. Whereas previously parties with xenophobic, racist and anti-semitic programmes were only able to gain a small proportion of votes, they have now managed to get into parliaments, committee members stressed.
They agreed that the resurgence of manifestations of neo-Nazism and xenophobia finds its roots in the economic crisis, particularly in rising levels of unemployment and problems linked to migration and inter-ethnic conflicts. A report by Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD) should analyse and evaluate existing concepts for combating right-wing extremism and deliberate on stronger countermeasures, including the question of how the Council of Europe and the Assembly should behave towards members of such parties.