Germany hopes to make Holocaust denial a crime across the EU as part of a package of laws it wants to introduce during its presidency of the bloc. Berlin is also set to outline plans to ban Nazi symbols like the swastika, which, like denying the massacre of the Jews, is already outlawed in Germany. Such moves may be seen as curtailing freedom of speech and could prove controversial in several member states. Germany's last attempt at enacting this sort of legislation failed in 2005 after objections from several governments, including the British. Last year's trial of the British historian David Irving, who was imprisoned for Holocaust denial in Austria, sparked a heated debate in Europe and illustrated just how controversial such a move might be. The details of the proposal have yet to emerge, but it is thought likely that member states would have the right to set their own rules determining if and how a Holocaust denier should be punished. Under any new law, prosecutors might also have to prove that a Nazi symbol was being used with the intention of whipping up racism.

AP, Jerusalum Post
Do you agree with Germany's attempt to criminalize Holocaust denial, due to its horrific historical significance, despite the new laws' stark contrast to long entrenched free speech norms in the West?