Is [Finland] going to put this at the top of their agenda or let it whither on the vine. I think it’s a priority. We are seeing alarming incidents across Europe rising…this ought to be a vital tool in our armoury to combat that. Sarah Ludford, Member of the European Parliament

Baroness Sarah Ludford, MEP and Vice Chair of the European Parliament’s Anti-Racism and Diversity Group yesterday questioned the European Council of Ministers on their lack of action over race-hate crimes.

Baroness Ludford, who also sits on the Civil Liberties Commission, recently came out strongly in support of Aisha Bingham, who Black Britain reported was the victim of racial hostility and abuse whilst holidaying in Bulgaria.

Every six months the presidency of the EU rotates and it currently resides with Finland, who must rise to the challenge of taking appropriate measures to tackle the problem.

Speaking to Baroness Ludford the day before the questions were posed to the Council of Ministers, she told Black Britain: “What I’m asking is where are we at on this measure? I mean it was first proposed five years ago and the European Parliament enthusiastically supported it.”

Baroness Ludford is critical of the EU’s failure to introduce European-wide measures to deter race hate crimes, pointing out that whilst in the UK there are specific laws to protect its citizens: “In the rest of Europe a lot of countries don’t have any laws that specifically criminalise hate crimes – attacks on people because of racial or religious hatred.”

Black Britain advised Baroness Ludford on the Bulgarian woman who had come forward after reading Black Britain’s story about Aisha Bingham’s experience, who admitted that it wasn’t an isolated incident. The woman, Albena Haralampieva felt that Bulgarians needed better education in terms of dealing with diversity.

Baroness Luford responded by saying that what she feels is needed are: “Two things, you need education, you need projects to change mindsets and you need laws against discrimination at work and for people as consumers. A further important thing you need is to sanction and penalise racially-motivated violence, whether that is incitement to hatred with inflammatory language, physical violence or racist graffiti or whatever.”

She told Black Britain that she would be pressing Finland on whether it: “Is going to put this at the top of their agenda or let it whither on the vine. I think it’s a priority. We are seeing alarming incidents across Europe rising…this ought to be a vital tool in our armoury to combat that.”