The German Bundesrat, the upper chamber of the German parliament, has proposed banning Germans from denigrating both the European Union flag and anthem.
The Bundesrat, which is composed of delegates from the German states, passed a bill that could see individuals who either denigrate the EU flag or the EU anthem, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, punished with a fine or up to three years in prison, Die Welt reports.
German newspaper Saarbrücken Zeitung obtained a draft of the law earlier this year that urged law enforcement agencies “to take firm and effective action against those whose aim is to disparage the fundamental values of the European Union”.
The draft continued, stating that violations would also cover attacks “on the reputation of the symbols of the European Union”.
Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows
Amid Billion-Dollar Somali Fraud Scandal, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz Reveals What He’s ‘Deeply Concerned’ About: Trump Insult
Unhinged Maxine Waters’ Latest Preposterous Allegation: Trump Is a ‘Killer’
Murdaugh family housekeeper says white truck ‘haunts’ her from night of murders years after
Hegseth to highlight rebuilding the ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ in speech at Reagan National Defense Forum
Afghan watchdog: US taxpayer-funded weapons left behind have formed ‘core of the Taliban security apparatus’
Could This Be the End? Trump Moves to End Birthright Citizenship for Good, SCOTUS Agrees to Hear the Case
Victor Davis Hanson: Consequences Await Tim Walz After Somali Fraud Scandal
How the Feds Unmasked, Caught Jan. 6 Pipe Bomb Suspect
Tim Walz Whines to Reporters That People Are Calling Him the ‘R-Word’ – And It’s Trump’s Fault
911 calls from deadly Texas Hill Country flood reveal heartbreaking pleas
High-brow New Jersey suburb’s high school launches Socialist Club with Karl Marx imagery
Hollywood star endorses Republican for California governor after ‘devastating’ Newsom admin
Walz ‘derelict leadership’ to blame in $1B fraud scandal with ‘haunting reminds of Watergate’: GOP challenger
How one of the biggest local TV mergers ever could blow a hole in Trump’s affordability push
The newly passed bill must now be ratified by the Bundestag, although no date for a vote on the matter has been scheduled so far.
French Schools Forced to Fly EU Flags Beside Tricolore in Macron Reforms https://t.co/ViASDDRnCs
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 4, 2019
Germany has laws on the books that outlaw the denigration of foreign flags and national emblems but so far, the European Union’s flag and symbols have not been recognised under the laws.
Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows
Amid Billion-Dollar Somali Fraud Scandal, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz Reveals What He’s ‘Deeply Concerned’ About: Trump Insult
Unhinged Maxine Waters’ Latest Preposterous Allegation: Trump Is a ‘Killer’
Murdaugh family housekeeper says white truck ‘haunts’ her from night of murders years after
Hegseth to highlight rebuilding the ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ in speech at Reagan National Defense Forum
Afghan watchdog: US taxpayer-funded weapons left behind have formed ‘core of the Taliban security apparatus’
Could This Be the End? Trump Moves to End Birthright Citizenship for Good, SCOTUS Agrees to Hear the Case
Victor Davis Hanson: Consequences Await Tim Walz After Somali Fraud Scandal
How the Feds Unmasked, Caught Jan. 6 Pipe Bomb Suspect
Tim Walz Whines to Reporters That People Are Calling Him the ‘R-Word’ – And It’s Trump’s Fault
911 calls from deadly Texas Hill Country flood reveal heartbreaking pleas
High-brow New Jersey suburb’s high school launches Socialist Club with Karl Marx imagery
Hollywood star endorses Republican for California governor after ‘devastating’ Newsom admin
Walz ‘derelict leadership’ to blame in $1B fraud scandal with ‘haunting reminds of Watergate’: GOP challenger
How one of the biggest local TV mergers ever could blow a hole in Trump’s affordability push
The country also has laws against insulting foreign heads of state, a law that nearly saw the prosecution of left-wing comedian Jan Böhmermann in 2016 over an offensive poem about Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that was later banned by a German court.
While charges were initiated against Böhmermann, they were later dropped, with Chancellor Angela Merkel even admitting that she had made an “error” in viewing the poem as “deliberately insulting”.
In neighbouring France, the government has forced schools across the country to start flying the EU flag alongside the French tricolore.
The move was part of educational reforms enacted by French president Emmanuel Macron that also lowered the age of compulsory school entry from six to three years old.
Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows
Amid Billion-Dollar Somali Fraud Scandal, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz Reveals What He’s ‘Deeply Concerned’ About: Trump Insult
Unhinged Maxine Waters’ Latest Preposterous Allegation: Trump Is a ‘Killer’
Murdaugh family housekeeper says white truck ‘haunts’ her from night of murders years after
Hegseth to highlight rebuilding the ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ in speech at Reagan National Defense Forum
Afghan watchdog: US taxpayer-funded weapons left behind have formed ‘core of the Taliban security apparatus’
Could This Be the End? Trump Moves to End Birthright Citizenship for Good, SCOTUS Agrees to Hear the Case
Victor Davis Hanson: Consequences Await Tim Walz After Somali Fraud Scandal
How the Feds Unmasked, Caught Jan. 6 Pipe Bomb Suspect
Tim Walz Whines to Reporters That People Are Calling Him the ‘R-Word’ – And It’s Trump’s Fault
911 calls from deadly Texas Hill Country flood reveal heartbreaking pleas
High-brow New Jersey suburb’s high school launches Socialist Club with Karl Marx imagery
Hollywood star endorses Republican for California governor after ‘devastating’ Newsom admin
Walz ‘derelict leadership’ to blame in $1B fraud scandal with ‘haunting reminds of Watergate’: GOP challenger
How one of the biggest local TV mergers ever could blow a hole in Trump’s affordability push
‘Our Country Is France, Not the EU!‘: EU Flag Compulsory in All Classrooms https://t.co/0C0V8rxmaW
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 14, 2019
Story cited here.
