Speakers with terrorist backgrounds or links to organisations on the European Union’s list of terrorist groups will not be allowed to speak at the European Parliament, according to its President Antonio Tajani.
“We should not allow members of organisations involved in terrorist acts to speak inside the Parliament,” he wrote in a letter to European Parliamentary Member Anders Vistisen who is the first vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Tajani issued a letter about the matter in the aftermath of a talk given in September by Palestinian terrorist hijacker Leila Khaled at a conference in the European Parliament building on the role of women in the Palestinian popular resistance.
Khaled took part in hijackings in 1969 and 1970 and is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is on the EU terrorist list.
Since then, Tajani said there has been an endorsement of his proposal “to systematically deny access to all individuals mentioned in the updated [EU terrorist list], as well as to member of organisations lists there.”
“I have reminded the members of the European Parliament as well as Parliament’s General Secretaries that every effort should be made to ensure that no listed person for representatives and entities mentioned in the Council are invited or admitted to Parliament nor promoted through event or audio-visual means,” he said.
MEP Bas Belder who also headed the initiative said, “We welcome the European Parliament’s Bureau and thank and congratulate President Tajani for taking a strong resolute stand against terrorism and its incitement,” he said. “We nevertheless urge the president and the Parliament’s Bureau to investigate if any irregularities have taken place during the [September event] and where appropriate, take necessary action, including holding those responsible accountable.”
