STRASBOURG, Feb 16: European Union lawmakers rejected on Thursday calls for limits on media freedom in the wake of the row over cartoons, insisting current law on offensive material sufficed.

“Freedom of expression and the independence of the press as universal rights cannot be undermined by any individual or group that feels offended by what is being said or written,” the EU assembly said in a resolution.

“Redress for any possible offence may be sought through the courts in accordance with existing national and European legislation,” it said, calling nonetheless on journalists to exercise media freedom in respect of human rights and religion.

The resolution pointed out that in some Arab countries and Iran ‘degrading and humiliating cartoons of Jews are regularly printed, thus showing that they obviously do not apply the same standards to all religious communities’.

The lawmakers condemned attacks on Danish embassies, threat of violence against its citizens and calls for boycott of Danish goods. 0 Europe’s leaders have been caught off guard by the row. Their reactions have wavered between staunch condemnations of the violence and criticism of the cartoons themselves.

In an interview with the International Herald Tribune newspaper, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he understood the offence caused but asked:

“Is it better to have a system where some excesses are allowed or be in some countries where they don’t even have the right to say this?”

Austrian President Heinz Fischer, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, did not call for specific limits on the media but said newspapers should respect the view of many Muslims that the Holy Prophet (pbuh)should not be depicted at all.

“If a ban on pictorial representation constitutes an essential element of a religion, one ought not and must not offend against this principle twice — not only by disrespecting this ban, but also by reinforcing this hurtful violation of a taboo in the form of a caricature,” he told the EU assembly. —Reuters