14 NEWS Best columns: Europe
ITALY
The European Court of Human Rights is clueless
about what it takes to fight organized crime, said
Francesco La Licata. In an absurd ruling last week,
the Strasbourg, France–based court declared that
Italy is violating the human rights of imprisoned
mob bosses. Under Italian law, mafiosi who are
serving life in prison cannot receive privileges—
such as day passes and sentence reductions— unless
they cooperate with authorities. That law, says the
court, must now change. The ruling is “in line”
with criminal justice trends across Europe, with
prison authorities offering inmates ever more incen-
tives to reform. But mafiosi are not normal prison-
ers, and the idea of them repenting and reforming“is simply unthinkable.” These hardened criminals
remain bound for life by the blood oath they swore
upon joining “the family.” Only the prospect of a
life sentence without parole, served entirely in isola-
tion, will persuade mob bosses to turn against their
organization and collaborate with authorities. Al-
lowing these thugs to serve normal sentences, with
perks for good behavior, will “discourage any form
of dissociation or repentance.” This ruling will set
back our nation’s fight against organized-crime
groups, which generate more than $200 billion a
year in illicit revenue and threaten and kill those
who dare stand in their way. “But the Strasbourg
court does not know this”—or simply doesn’t care.Eight decades after the Holocaust, Jews in Ger-
many are still not safe, said Hans Riebsamen in
the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. A far-right
militant brandishing homemade guns last week
tried to force his way into a packed synagogue in
the eastern German city of Halle during services
for Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. He failed
to breach the doors, so couldn’t open fire on
the worshippers—who included 10 Americans.
Instead, he shot dead a woman passing by and a
man inside a nearby kebab shop. The government
had turned down the synagogue’s request for a
police guard for Yom Kippur, and a massacre wasaverted only by luck. Now we should all recog-
nize that “the danger is real,” and that all Jewish
centers need guards. Anti-Semitism is resurgent.
It is not a problem only in Halle, or only in the
former East Germany. Haters of Jews range from
the “young neo-Nazis on the Right to the anti-
Zionists and the Israel boycotters on the Left to
the Muslim immigrants who learned anti-Semitism
at school.” People from all walks of German life
have been infected by “the virus of anti-Semitism,”
and clearly some of them are willing to kill. The
answer is not for Jews to flee or “bunker down”—
it is for the German state to protect them.GettyCatalans have poured into the streets in
grief and outrage, said the Barcelona-
based La Vanguardia (Spain) in an edito-
rial. In the regional capital of Barcelona,
thousands of protesters blocked roads,
stormed the airport, and hurled rocks at
riot police, who blasted back with tear
gas and rubber bullets. These demonstra-
tors are furious that Spain’s Supreme
Court has sentenced nine leaders of the
region’s separatist movement to prison
terms ranging from nine to 13 years for
sedition. Their crime? Organizing a 2017
referendum on whether Catalonia should
secede from Spain—a vote Madrid deemed illegal—followed
almost immediately by a declaration of independence. All of the
defendants were acquitted of the charge of rebellion, which could
have resulted in 25-year sentences. Yet the prison terms are still
“harsh” and “do not help calm spirits in our polarized society.”
Catalonia is far from united on the verdicts. This wealthy region,
which has its own language and culture, has been wrestling with
the concept of independence for decades, and the issue is still not
settled. To calm tensions, Catalans should vote for leaders in next
month’s national elections who will use political dialogue—not
unilateralism and “street agitation”—to resolve our differences.It cannot be acceptable for a European country to punish citi-
zens for expressing political opposition, said Bart Eeckhout in
De Morgen (Belgium). The European Union seemed to recognize
that in recent years, censuring Hungary and Poland for their crack-
downs on civil society. So where is the censure for Spain? It was
perfectly legitimate for Spain to block Catalan secession—afterall, that was “the will of the vast ma-
jority in the country.” But long prison
sentences for a political infraction?
That is the stuff of authoritarianism.
“Where democratic political opposition
is classified as a crime, the rule of law
is crumbling.” Spain is now seeking the
extradition of Carles Puigdemont, the
former leader of Catalonia who fled to
Belgium in 2017. If we send him home,
we’ll betray our own democratic ideals.Political opposition is one thing, said
the Madrid-based El País (Spain); se-
cession, quite another. Unilaterally declaring independence from
Madrid was against the law, even if most Catalans had wished it—
and given that turnout in the illegal 2017 referendum was only
43 percent, that is far from clear. Had the ringleaders not been
punished, “the seed of tyranny would have been planted.” The
court has ruled correctly, and “upheld our democratic system.”The Catalan separatists knew that imprisonment was a possibil-
ity, said Giles Tremlett in The Guardian (U.K.). By declaring
independence, they invited Spanish authorities to arrest them, in
the honorable tradition of civil disobedience. They will be “hailed
as martyrs to their cause and become an inspiration for future
generations.” But for now their cause is on ice. The rest of the
EU mostly sides with Madrid, and even in Catalonia, “support
for independence remains below 50 percent.” Had the separatists
focused on building support for their cause, rather than hastily
declaring independence, they might now have a majority. “The
jail sentences are for sedition, but their real problem is hubris.”Why mafiosi
must serve
hard time
Francesco La Licata
La Stampa
GERMANY
Protesters swarm Barcelona’s airport.The state
must protect
synagogues
Hans Riebsamen
Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung
Spain: Locking up Catalan separatists