Only ban swastika if it incites hatred, Estonia urges EU

(TALLINN) - New European Union member Estonia said Thursday it would only back a ban on the swastika if the ancient symbol is used to incide hatred.

Germany, which holds the EU rotating presidency, has said it wants the 27-nation bloc to introduce a ban on the display of Nazi symbols, including the 5,000-year-old Hindu swastika, which, in a slightly modified form, became the insignia of the Nazi Party.

"The Estonian Justice Ministry admits there is a problem, but our position today is that use of the swastika should be banned only if it is accompanied by incitement of hatred," Estonian Justice Ministry spokesman Mart Siilivask told AFP.

"We can be more specific after we get Germany's concrete proposals but it's clear today we do not favour a blanket ban."

The Estonian parliament is currently debating a bill which would make it a crime to display Soviet- or Nazi-era symbols in public, if they are likely to fuel hatred between different ethnic or social groups.

The bill would ban the display of the flags of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and other official symbols of the two "occupying regimes" of Estonia.

Nazi Germany occupied Estonia and its Baltic neighbours at the start of World War II, and the three countries were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union at the close of the war, in 1945. They regained independence in 1991 and joined the EU and NATO 13 years later.