Statements by 1000 lawmakers from 23 EU member states
Parliamentarians condemned EU Council of Ministers’ defiance of the European Communities’ Court of First Instance verdict annulling terror designation of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI)
Signatories are from Austria, Belgium, Britain, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.
COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN UNION NOT ABOVE THE LAW
STATEMENTS BY 1000 LAWMAKERS FROM 23 EU MEMBER STATES
Parliamentarians condemned EU Council of Ministers’ defiance of the European Communities’ Court of First Instance verdict annulling terror designation of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI)
Signatories are from Austria, Belgium, Britain, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden
On 12 December 2006, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities annulled a Council of Ministers’ decision to designate the PMOI as a terrorist group.
In a clear defiance of the Court ruling, the Council announced on 30 January 2007 that it has “decided to provide the PMOI with a statement of reasons for keeping it on the EU’s ‘asset freeze list’ of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts, and to give the PMOI one month to present its views, together with any supporting documentation”. The British Government was the main sponsor of the proposition.
In the conclusion of its judgment in the case of the “PMOI -v- the Council of the European Union”, the European Court of First Instance wrote unequivocally in Item 2 that it “Annuls, in so far as it concerns the applicant, Council Decision 2005/930/EC of 21 December 2005 implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism.” The Court also stated in paragraph 35 that when a court annuls an act “the act is eliminated retroactively from the legal order and is deemed never to have existed.” The Court decision effectively un-froze the assets of the PMOI and 4/5ths of the legal costs were awarded against the Council.
The statement of reasons now being provided by the European Council as justification for keeping the PMOI on the EU terrorist list is a worthless charade, which makes a mockery of the rule of law upon which the institutions of the EU and European Member States rely. Violating the rule of law and placing the Council’s opinion above that of the highest EU courts in yet another pathetic attempt to appease Iranian regime, is both scandalous and shameful.
The PMOI is a legitimate resistance movement and its inclusion on the terrorist list was, from day one, the blatant product of a deal with the clerical regime in Iran. But the decision by the Council of Ministers has stepped over recognized red lines in Europe. While the mullahs’ President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling for the annihilation of Israel and rapidly threatening with the nuclear capability, it ill befalls the European Council to continue its failed policy of appeasement. While Iranian revolutionary guards roam freely in Iraq, inflaming the insurgency, killing allied troops and murdering countless innocent civilians, the Council of Ministers should be offering support to those who oppose the mullahs, rather than seeking to tarnish them with lies and distortions.
The Council must immediately implement the ruling of the Court of First Instance and removes the PMOI from the EU terrorist list once and for all. The Council’s defiance of the Court’s ruling benefits no-one except the extremists who rule Iran and who are the enemies of peace and democracy.
