By Clare Arthurs BBC correspondent in Hanoi

The motion, which was passed earlier in May, called for Vietnam to end its breaches of the international treaty on civil and political rights, which it signed 20 years ago.

The European demand for an end to discrimination and oppression has been greeted with the usual strong language of the Communist Party.

Religion is under close scrutiny in Vietnam

The motion of the European Parliament expresses concern about detained Buddhist monks, controls over information, and restrictions on free expression in the name of national security.

It demands an end to detention without trial, the arrest of journalists, and controls on the ability of Vietnamese people to use the internet or to watch foreign satellite broadcasts.

It raises the same issues seen regularly in reports from a range of Western governments and international human rights groups.

But what the Europeans see as violations of civil and political rights, the ruling authorities in Vietnam view as the necessary control of people who would otherwise threaten national unity.

The Communist Party believes it's leading Vietnam out of poverty through what it calls renovation policies. Human rights campaigners call it violations of the right to free expression, to a fair trial and to practice religion.

Hanoi dismisses these criticisms, and says Vietnam has no political prisoners, only criminals.

In an editorial in the Nhan Dzan, or People's Daily, the Party accuses what it calls Vietnamese traitors living overseas, of mounting an anti-government campaign.

This is not the first time the Europeans have complained about Hanoi's human rights record.

There's a privately vocal group which is impatient that Vietnam takes its seat at the United Nations while breaching treaty obligations, and faces no penalty for doing so

There have been other demands, which have met with limited success. These have included a call to allow delegations to monitor ethnic unrest in the Central Highlands, and to meet members of the banned Buddhist church.

Like individual governments and international organisations, the European Union does have a human rights dialogue with Hanoi.

These are conducted quietly, in deference to the Communist Party's sensitivity to being criticised, and on the argument that private dialogue is better than none.

This argument recognises that change is achieved in Vietnam in a slow and considered way.