NCRI – Mr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice-President of the European Parliament, in a speech in gathering of 50,000 Iranians in Paris criticized the current EU policy towards Iran and emphasized that if the West is fearful of another war in the region, appeasing this regime is not the solution.
Mr. Vidal-Quadras added, the continuing injustice against the Mojahedin of Iran will remain as a dark stain on the history of Europe for which the EU will be blamed in the future.
Text of speech by Mr. Vidal-Quadras, Vice-President of the European Parliament, in a speech in gathering of 50,000 Iranians in Paris in support of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI):
Dear Friends,
First of all I wish to express my warmest greetings to your compatriots in Ashraf City who are watching this meeting live by satellite TV. Through their resistance against all conspiracies of the mullahs and their agents in Iraq, the People’s Mojahedin in Ashraf have been a source of inspiration not only for millions of Iranians in Iran but also for many of us in Europe who believe in democracy, who believe in freedom and who believe in full respect of human rights.
I also wish to express our solidarity with the thousands of Iranians who demonstrated earlier this week in Tehran and other cities against the start of a fuel rationing programme and called for the downfall of the totalitarian regime that is ruling your country.
I am very happy to be here amongst you in this magnificent event today. In the years that I have known the Iranian Mojahedin, I have reached a point whereby I feel I am a member of your family, the big family of the Iranian Resistance. That is why I have shared your moments of happiness, like today in Paris or the day we managed to overcome all obstacles and invite Mrs Maryam Rajavi to the European Parliament in Strasbourg despite the tremendous pressures by the Iranian regime on many European Prime Ministers and heads of state who wrongly thought that by inviting the leader of the Iranian democratic opposition to our Parliament, the EU’s negotiations with Iran on the nuclear issue would be disrupted. It is just the opposite. It is only with the strong commitment to our principles and our values that we will be respected.
I have also shared your moments of pain and frustration and particularly this EU terrorist tag that so unfairly keeps your hands tied. I can sense how you and all freedom-loving Iranians feel when you see how appeasement can go this far and how some EU leaders are prepared to defy the verdict of the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg which ruled in favour of the PMOI in December. That was a historic victory for justice and for the Iranian opposition that proved that it is a legitimate resistance.
We in the European Parliament have fought very hard to convince the EU leadership that the correct policy towards Iran is not these useless negotiations and engagement. If the West is afraid of another war in the region, appeasing this regime is not the solution. The Iranian regime is not part of the solution in Iraq and the Middle East ; it is part of the problem and I daresay probably the only problem. By sitting down with officials of this regime, the West is in reality humiliating itself. And the end of this road of appeasement is war because the Iranian regime is using these endless negotiations to buy time to continue its nuclear program. We should not forget that it was the People’s Mojahedin who revealed two secret nuclear sites in August 2002. The world should be thankful to the Iranian Resistance that opened our eyes to this terrible threat.
The advocates of this appeasement policy talk of the need of communicating with the so-called civil society in Iran instead of recognizing the NCRI and the PMOI. I have to say that the suggestion that the West should reach out to nameless and faceless Iranians, members of civil society and NGOs is implausible and does not represent a practical or concrete solution because in a repressive environment, no such channels of communications could be established without being contaminated by the state security apparatus.
There is also a theory that if the EU respects the verdict of the European Court and removes the PMOI from its terrorist list, it would mean that the West is after regime change. That is why the EU Council of Ministers is prepared to defy the Court. This is another deep mistake. The removal of the PMOI from the list would prove that the EU sticks to its principles, that the EU believes in the rule of law, and that would force the Iranian regime to moderate its repression of the Iranian people. Keeping the PMOI, who are not terrorists, in the list, encourages the true terrorists, who are the present rulers of Iran, to continue their sinister work of spreading violence and destruction all over the Middle East.
The continuing injustice against the PMOI will remain as a dark stain on the history of Europe for which the EU will be blamed in the future.
But you, my Iranian friends, should be assured that there are many European politicians and elected representatives of the people of Europe who have principles, who share your cause in favour of freedom and democracy in Iran, who are standing side by side with you, who support you, who admire you, who consider an honor to be your friends. Believe me, we will never, never, in spite of the difficulties, of the threats, of the disappointments, leave you alone in your heroic struggle. We will go on for ever working hand in hand, our hearts beating together, until Iran is again free.
We have to keep fighting until we see democracy flourish in Iran. Our victory is inevitable because it will be the victory of freedom over tyranny, of justice over injustice, of the good over the evil. We can and we must win!
Thank you and God bless you all.
