Daily: Hate speech legislation to be left aside for now
Draft legislation aimed at criminalizing hate speech, which was meant to arrive at the government's desks on April 15, has been left on the shelf, because the two coalition partners, Reform and Center, haven't been able to agree on whether the current regulation should be amended or not, daily newspaper Postimees writes.
"There is no such legislation and that's it. I think it says everything," Minister of Justice Maris Lauri (Reform) said.
The Reform Party and the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDE) supported the criminalization of hate speech, while the opposition Isamaa and Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) reject it. The position of the Center Party, which voted in favor of rejecting a similar draft in December when it was in office with Isamaa and EKRE, is still unknown.
The European Commission launched infringement proceedings in late October last year, claims which Estonia rejects.
Lauri said that if the European Commission were satisfied with Estonia's answers and then closed infringement its proceedings, the state wouldn't have reason to change anything at all.
Read the full article in English on Postimees' website.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino