Polish veto blocks EU on rights of gays and Jews
By ANDREW RETTMAN
Poland has vetoed an EU human rights statement on the grounds that it covered gay people but not Jews or Christians.
“We proposed that recognising the need to protect Christians and Jews against religious discrimination be put on an equal footing with protecting the rights of people with a different sexual orientation, migrant children, or women,” the Polish justice ministry said on Thursday (11 October).
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“Our .. proposal was not accepted by other delegations, so Poland decided to vote against the [EU] conclusions,” it said.
The Polish veto, at a meeting of justice ministers in Luxembourg, meant the EU did not adopt conclusions on “the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2017” – a yearly statement.
The Austrian EU presidency instead published its own draft version of the text “to take stock of the current debate”.
The draft mentioned gay rights, migrant children, and women. It also denounced “discrimination against … religious groups”, but did not include the proposed Polish amendment: “especially Christians and Jews”.