International News Opinons Politics

German Federal Council Passes Bill Giving Three Years in Prison for Denigrating EU Flag

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”.


Los Angeles Electric School Bus Bursts Into Flames, Driver Hospitalized
Trump’s election win filled Hamas with ‘fear,’ hostage held like ‘slave’ for 505 days recounts
Leaked lessons from first-year University of Illinois education course show extreme left bias: ‘Just so wrong’
Gruesome Charges: She Was a Miss Switzerland Finalist Then Her Husband Used an Industrial Blender to ‘Puree’ Her – That Was After He Cut Out Her Womb
Person of interest in custody following deadly shooting at Brown University
Platner courts progressives as Maine Senate race with Mills and Collins tightens
How fears of being labeled ‘racist’ helped ‘provide cover’ for the exploding Minnesota fraud scandal
Poll: Trump Holds Double-Digit Leading Majority Over Democrats Regarding Who Americans Trust to Manage the Economy
New York to spend $2 million providing mental health services to Afghan refugees
After Trump Break-Up, MTG Seeks to Build ‘Bridges’ with Feminist Left-Wing CCP-Linked Activists
Law enforcement expert warns early details ‘often change’ as manhunt intensifies at Brown University
Elite Ivy League campus latest to grapple with mass shooting as violence erupts at Brown University
FBI ousts reinstated whistleblower over unauthorized media talks, ‘poor judgment’
Breaking: Shooting at Brown University, 2 Dead
Op-Ed: The Friendly Housekeepers’ Fraud
See also  Judge allows DOJ to release Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury transcripts

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.

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.


Los Angeles Electric School Bus Bursts Into Flames, Driver Hospitalized
Trump’s election win filled Hamas with ‘fear,’ hostage held like ‘slave’ for 505 days recounts
Leaked lessons from first-year University of Illinois education course show extreme left bias: ‘Just so wrong’
Gruesome Charges: She Was a Miss Switzerland Finalist Then Her Husband Used an Industrial Blender to ‘Puree’ Her – That Was After He Cut Out Her Womb
Person of interest in custody following deadly shooting at Brown University
Platner courts progressives as Maine Senate race with Mills and Collins tightens
How fears of being labeled ‘racist’ helped ‘provide cover’ for the exploding Minnesota fraud scandal
Poll: Trump Holds Double-Digit Leading Majority Over Democrats Regarding Who Americans Trust to Manage the Economy
New York to spend $2 million providing mental health services to Afghan refugees
After Trump Break-Up, MTG Seeks to Build ‘Bridges’ with Feminist Left-Wing CCP-Linked Activists
Law enforcement expert warns early details ‘often change’ as manhunt intensifies at Brown University
Elite Ivy League campus latest to grapple with mass shooting as violence erupts at Brown University
FBI ousts reinstated whistleblower over unauthorized media talks, ‘poor judgment’
Breaking: Shooting at Brown University, 2 Dead
Op-Ed: The Friendly Housekeepers’ Fraud
See also  Top US political figures lend legitimacy to Qatari forum allied with array of anti-American groups

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.


Los Angeles Electric School Bus Bursts Into Flames, Driver Hospitalized
Trump’s election win filled Hamas with ‘fear,’ hostage held like ‘slave’ for 505 days recounts
Leaked lessons from first-year University of Illinois education course show extreme left bias: ‘Just so wrong’
Gruesome Charges: She Was a Miss Switzerland Finalist Then Her Husband Used an Industrial Blender to ‘Puree’ Her – That Was After He Cut Out Her Womb
Person of interest in custody following deadly shooting at Brown University
Platner courts progressives as Maine Senate race with Mills and Collins tightens
How fears of being labeled ‘racist’ helped ‘provide cover’ for the exploding Minnesota fraud scandal
Poll: Trump Holds Double-Digit Leading Majority Over Democrats Regarding Who Americans Trust to Manage the Economy
New York to spend $2 million providing mental health services to Afghan refugees
After Trump Break-Up, MTG Seeks to Build ‘Bridges’ with Feminist Left-Wing CCP-Linked Activists
Law enforcement expert warns early details ‘often change’ as manhunt intensifies at Brown University
Elite Ivy League campus latest to grapple with mass shooting as violence erupts at Brown University
FBI ousts reinstated whistleblower over unauthorized media talks, ‘poor judgment’
Breaking: Shooting at Brown University, 2 Dead
Op-Ed: The Friendly Housekeepers’ Fraud

Story cited here.

See also  Walz says he would ‘welcome more’ Somalis as fraud investigation intensifies
Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter