OPEN LETTER TO THE AUSTRIAN PRESIDENCY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, EU MEMBER STATES AND FIFA
Dear European leaders, We, Members of the European Parliament and signatories of this present letter, particularly concerned about reiterated statements by the Iranian President Ahmadinejad regarding martyrdom, the Holocaust and Israel, Iran’s nuclear enrichment activity, Iran’s human rights violations and financing of terrorism, and the distinct prospect of seeing President Ahmadinejad attending the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, wish to draw your attention to the following:
- considering the public statements of President Ahmadinejad, who has denied Israel’s right to exist and the reality of the Holocaust; which do not inspire confidence in the Iranian Government’s intentions to adopt a peaceful and constructive role in the Middle East;
- considering President Ahmadinejad promotion of martyrdom (Shehada), such as in his TV appearance on Iran’s Channel 1 on 25 July 2005, where he praised "the art of martyrdom," which is contrary to European values, and represents a direct threat to the Western civilisation;
- considering the present attitude of the Iranian authorities to Iran’s nuclear programme, notably its decision to resume enrichment-related activities; - having regard to the IAEA’s resolutions, which criticise Iran for non-compliance with the IAEA’s recommendations and which underline the resulting absence of confidence in Iran’s intention to use its nuclear programme exclusively for peaceful purposes;
- considering Iran’s dismal human rights record, its involvement in financing terrorist organisations, such as Hezbollah; - having regard to Articles 2, 6, 7 and 29 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 13 of the EC Treaty, which commit the Member States to upholding the highest standards of human rights and non-discrimination, and to the European Charter of Fundamental Rights;
- considering the possibility that President Ahmadinejad may attend the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany;
- having regard to Article 3 of FIFA’s statutes, which states that "Discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or groups of people on account of ethnic origin, gender, language, religion, politics or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion." We call upon the 25 EU member states and FIFA to declare the Iranian President “Persona non grata ad personam” within EU territory as long as his positions on martyrdom, the Holocaust and the destruction of Israel and Iran’s uranium enrichment activities remain unchanged;
We underline that President Ahmadinejad’s possible visit to Europe will send the wrong signal to the European and international community, and particularly to those oppressed in Iran.
Yours sincerely,
CO-AUTHORS Jana Hybášková (EPP-ED) Charles Tannock (EPP-ED) Paulo Casaca (PSE) Frédérique Ries (ALDE) Ryszard Czarnecki (NI) SIGNATORIES Alexander Alvaro (ALDE) Kader Arif (PSE) Bastiaan Belder (Ind-Dem) Monika Beňová (PSE) André Brie (GUE-NGL) Jan Březina (EPP-ED) Jana Bobošíková (NI) Paul van Buitenen (Verts/ALE) Philip Bushill-Matthews (EPP-ED) Simon Busuttil (EPP-ED) Martin Callanan (EPP-ED) Marco Cappato (ALDE) David Casa (EPP-ED) Romana Jordan Cizelj (EPP-ED) Fausto Correia (PSE) Gerard Deprez (ALDE) Marie-Hélène Descamps (EPP-ED) Petr Duchoň (EPP-ED) Bill Newton Dunn (ALDE) Edite Estrela (PSE) Markus Ferber (EPP-ED) Emanuel Jardim Fernandes (PSE) Glyn Ford (PSE) Patrick Gaubert (EPP-ED) Bronisław Geremek (ALDE) Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg (PSE) Bogdan Golik (PSE) Ana Maria Gomes (PSE) Françoise Grossetête (EPP-ED) Ambroise Guellec (EPP-ED) Cristina Gutiérrez-Cortines (EPP-ED) Johan Van Hecke (ALDE) Christopher Heaton-Harris (EPP-ED) Roger Helmer (NI) Erna Hennicot-Schoepges (EPP-ED) Gunnar Hökmark (EPP-ED) Lívia Járóka (EPP-ED) Filip Andrzej Kaczmarek (EPP-ED) Piia-Noora Kauppi (EPP-ED) Tunne Kelam (EPP-ED) Timothy Kirkhope (EPP-ED) Ewa Klamt (EPP-ED) Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis (UEN) Katalin Lévai (PSE) Alain Lipietz (Verts/ALE) Astrid Lulling (EPP-ED) Helmuth Markov (GUE-NGL) Erik Meijer (GUE-NGL) Claude Moraes (PSE) Ljudmila Novak (EPP-ED) Geoffrey Van Orden (EPP-ED) Marco Panella (ALDE) José Ribeiro E Castro (EPP-ED) Leopold Józef Rutowicz (NI) Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP-ED) Zuzana Roithová (EPP-ED) Manuel António dos Santos (PSE) Pierre Schapira (PSE) Marek Siwiec (PSE) Boguslaw Sonik (EPP-ED) Peter Šťastný (EPP-ED) Margie Sudre (EPP-ED) David Sumberg (EPP-ED) Konrad Szymański (UEN) Csaba Sándor Tabajdi (PSE) Hannu Takkula (ALDE) Marc Tarabella (PSE) Jacques Toubon (EPP-ED) Thomas Ulmer (EPP-ED) Ari Vatanen (EPP-ED) Henri Weber (PSE) Janusz Wojciechowski (UEN) Jaroslav Zvěřina (EPP-ED) Tadeusz Zwiefka (EPP-ED)
