Sparking intense criticism from conservatives, the left-leaning majority of the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the extension of the EU crime list to include hate speech and hate crimes, which would allow the European Commission to introduce binding minimum penalties for all member states.
The vote, that took place on Thursday, January 18th, passed with 397 for and 121 against, with only 26 abstentions—the latter mainly coming from a handful of dissident leftists concerned that the law may be used to silence anti-Israel voices. As always, only the two conservative blocs, ECR and ID, voted against it while all leftist parties and the center-right EPP supported the report.
