Rada Europy: Trybunał nie może decydować o krzyżach
W. Kobryń, Nasz Dziennik
February 27 2010

During the meeting at Interlaken (Switzerland) a statement was underwritten by the European Council member countries in which it is stated that the questions relating to the preservation of the traditions and the culture of the individual countries do not come within the powers of the European Court for the Rights of Man. The signatories stress that the Tribunal cannot forbid the hanging of Crosses in public places, as instead happened in Italy at the end of last year. The question of the presence of the Cross in public places was introduced upon the request of the representatives of Lithuania and Malta. According to the Maltese Minister of Justice, Carmelo Mifsu Bonnici, the Court does not have sufficient sensibility regarding the cultural factors that form the national identity of the member countries. The Lithuanian Interior Minister, Maris Riekstins, has stated that the Court should issue sentences capable of not raising arguments, they should be precise and comprehensible: all of this has been left wanting in the sentence concerning the presence of the Cross in public places.