European Union countries remained divided over how to deal with claims the Holocaust never happened, diplomats said on Thursday, after ministers discussed the issue for the first time in more than a year.

The bloc has struggled for almost six years over proposals for an EU-wide, anti-racism law which would include harmonized rules on helping punish Holocaust denial.

EU president Germany has said it has a historic duty to harmonize EU rules for dealing with claims the massacre of Jews by Nazi Germany never took place, as well as racism in general.

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Germany wants EU states to be free to decide not to make denial of the Holocaust a crime, as long it does not incite violence or hatred.

"We would really have problems with arresting one of our citizens and handing him over to another country for denying the Holocaust," another diplomat said.

But all countries would have to help states that punish Holocaust denial carry out their investigations, the main point of disagreement, diplomats said.

"All states feel that ... Europe must give a clear message that we will not tolerate, and want to combat racism and xenophobia," German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries told a news conference.

She acknowledged that there were differences, but declined to say how she planned to reach a deal.

"If you want an agreement on this, there is really a lot of work to do," one of the diplomats said.

Long-standing differences between countries that champion freedom of expression and those that sanction Holocaust denial emerged during Thursday's meeting of justice and interior ministers.

Countries like France have laws to punish those who deny 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War Two, while others such as Denmark favor freedom of speech.

New EU states from the former communist bloc also want the text of any agreement to ban the denial of Stalinist crimes.

German court jails Holocaust denier Zuendel for five years
A German court sentenced a prominent Holocaust denier extradited from Canada to five years in prison on Thursday for inciting racial hatred and denying the Nazis murdered six million Jews.

Ernst Zuendel, publisher of works such as "Did six million really die?", was handed the maximum sentence under German law for Holocaust denial.

Zuendel, 67, has been in custody in Germany since March 2005 after being deported from Canada. The court would not release him on bail because of the danger he would flee.

In his closing statement Zuendel said the court should set up an international commission of experts to examine the Holocaust. If the commission confirmed the gassing of Jews, he told the court he would convene a press conference to apologize to Jews and other victims.

The trial was suspended in late 2005 after the judge dismissed a publicly appointed defense lawyer when she produced written submissions that appeared to deny the Holocaust. It resumed just over a year ago.

Zuendel is a German citizen who has spent much of his life in Canada and whose name is sometimes spelled Zundel. He ran a Web site and distributed a publication called "Germania Rundbrief" denying the Holocaust took place.

There were posters of Zuendel and other prominent Holocaust deniers at last year's Holocaust conference in Tehran organized by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.