STRASBOURG, Sept 24 (Hina) - The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on Friday ended its five-day session by removing from the agenda the last item, a controversial debate on the danger of extremist parties and movements for
democracy in Europe. Parliamentarians from 41 countries decided to return the material submitted for this topic for reconsideration to the Political Committee. In this way, an important procedural problem which occurred in preparations for a debate on extremist parties and movements was resolved. The origin of the controversy was an analysis of the European centre for research and action against racism and anti-Semitism from Paris, written by Jean-Yves Camus, who compiled a 'catalogue' of activities of extremist parties and movements in 41 countries of the Council of Europe. The analysis triggered off a series of critical remarks, including those by Croati
STRASBOURG, Sept 24 (Hina) - The Council of Europe Parliamentary
Assembly on Friday ended its five-day session by removing from the
agenda the last item, a controversial debate on the danger of
extremist parties and movements for democracy in Europe.
Parliamentarians from 41 countries decided to return the material
submitted for this topic for reconsideration to the Political
Committee.
In this way, an important procedural problem which occurred in
preparations for a debate on extremist parties and movements was
resolved. The origin of the controversy was an analysis of the
European centre for research and action against racism and anti-
Semitism from Paris, written by Jean-Yves Camus, who compiled a
'catalogue' of activities of extremist parties and movements in 41
countries of the Council of Europe.
The analysis triggered off a series of critical remarks, including
those by Croatian representatives, already at a preparatory
meeting of the Council of Europe Political Committee, held in
Reykjavik this summer.
Several requests were submitted to the effect of removing the
analysis from all texts bearing the official symbols of the Council
of Europe.
Most objections concern the one-sidedness of the disputed
analysis, the fact that it deals more with the danger of the extreme
right than the danger of the extreme left, as well as the general
methodology of the documentation.
Croatian representative Nikola Obuljen suggested that the analysis
be excluded from an official text prepared for the debate, pointing
to the unacceptability and incorrectness of the author's arbitrary
statements.
In a short paragraph on the activities of extreme rightist parties
in Croatia, it is said that the two parties of the right, Dobroslav
Paraga's Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) - 1861 and Anto Djapic's
HSP, are the successors of the Ustashi and that within the ruling
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) there is a discourse of xenophobia
and rehabilitation of the pro-Nazi Independent State of Croatia
(NDH) which was run by Ante Pavelic.
It is the parliamentary group of Socialists who initiated the
debate on the danger of extremist parties and movements.
The five-day session of the Parliamentary Assembly focused on the
situation in South-East Europe after the Kosovo crisis.
(hina) rml