According to a report in today’s bianet.news, the recent passage of a bill by the lower house of the French Parliament criminalizing the denial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide might give way to it becoming law in all 26 countries of the European Union.

The report notes that the EU’s Joint Framework Decision on the denial of genocide affords such a possibility and that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking just that.

The EU Joint Framework Decision was a matter of debate since 2001and approved on 19 April 2007 under German EU Presidency. It intends to fight racism, xenophobia and genocide.

In other words, the recent decision taken in France does not only concern the country but might become valid for all 26 EU member states. The decision entitles the courts of the EU states to decide whether the act of genocide happened or not. Should the courts approve the provision, anybody who denies the genocide can be sentenced to imprisonment of up to three years.