Thoughts, prayers, and endless promises of more openness and inclusivity—that’s how the European Parliament reacted to Monday’s Islamist terror attack in Brussels during the plenary session on Tuesday, October 17th.
Only the two conservative parties (ECR and ID) seem to be able to connect the dots between terrorism and illegal migration, as the representatives of every single leftist party as well as the center-right EPP were simply stuck in a loop of parroting each other’s meaningless slogans, celebrating, and even calling to increase multiculturalism.
To recap, the Tunisian attacker, who claimed he was acting on behalf of ISIS when killing two Swedish nationals with an assault rifle in the EU capital, was an illegal migrant with a prior conviction who landed in Lampedusa three years ago, had his asylum request denied by three separate countries, was known to the police, and had been flagged as an extremist.
Despite all this, he wasn’t deported, which led to the death of innocent Europeans.
What’s even more baffling than the Belgian police’s incompetence is the European Parliament’s inability to take the cue and shut their mouth for once.
Parallel world
When the floor was given to a representative from each party group to offer their statement about the attacks, every group chose a Swedish representative. Every leftist MEP began by offering token condolences and then immediately repeating some variation of the same line, purporting that this was an attack on “our free, open, and democratic society.”
“The extremists want to divide us,” declared Alice Kuhnke (Greens).
But it’s solidarity that should define us, that we are united in diversity! … We’re determined to continue protecting our freedom and open society!
“We will stand even stronger for our values of freedom, democracy, and openness,” vowed EPP’s Tomas Tobé heroically, who incidentally is the rapporteur of the disastrous Migration Pact, which conservatives believe will only worsen the current situation.
The socialists (S&D) and liberals (Renew) expressed very similar opinions, nearly repeating the same statement about needing to protect freedom and democracy to the letter.
The Left’s Malin Björk went even further by almost openly identifying right-wing nationalism as the true enemy, something that her colleagues only implicitly hinted at.
“These people want to spread fear, hate, division, and further violence. … They want to see different nationalities turn against each other,” Björk said. “We all have a responsibility here to do all that we can do here to build democratic, open, free, inclusive societies that are against and are free from this hate.”
Reality check
On behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) MEP Charlie Weimers from the Sweden Democrats finally rose to put the Left side of the chamber in its place.
Dear colleagues, condolences are not enough.
The terrorist, a Tunisian national, was a convicted criminal and illegal resident and had his asylum application rejected three years ago. For our citizens’ sake, illegal migration to Europe must end.
Weimers then continued by saying that the attacker operated under the assumption that Sweden had kidnapped Muslim children, a piece of disinformation propagated by Islamist organizations throughout Europe since 2019, as he called for the EU funding of such entities to stop.
“Jews in Europe are being asked to hide their Jewishness. Now we Swedes are recommended to hide our nationality in Europe, our home,” Weimers said before concluding: “European complacency in the face of Islamism must end right here, right now.”
Flemish MEP Gerolf Annemans—the only speaker who did not come from Sweden since the ID group doesn’t have a Swedish delegation—spoke instead of Belgium and its responsibility for what has happened.
“As a Belgian citizen, I have to point the finger at our failed migration policy,” Annemans began. He explained that the Belgian government puts everyone at risk of death by allowing people to stay in the country illegally. He added:
People are not just allowed to stay, but apparently [they] can drive and carry weapons in our capital without a problem. This is shameful for Belgium and the EU. … Wake up before we have utter chaos.
“United in Diversity”: MEPs React to Brussels Terror Attack
MEPs hold “a moment of silence” for the victims of the Brussels terror attack in Strasbourg.
Photo: Fred Marvaux ©European Union 2023 – Source: EP
Thoughts, prayers, and endless promises of more openness and inclusivity—that’s how the European Parliament reacted to Monday’s Islamist terror attack in Brussels during the plenary session on Tuesday, October 17th.
Only the two conservative parties (ECR and ID) seem to be able to connect the dots between terrorism and illegal migration, as the representatives of every single leftist party as well as the center-right EPP were simply stuck in a loop of parroting each other’s meaningless slogans, celebrating, and even calling to increase multiculturalism.
To recap, the Tunisian attacker, who claimed he was acting on behalf of ISIS when killing two Swedish nationals with an assault rifle in the EU capital, was an illegal migrant with a prior conviction who landed in Lampedusa three years ago, had his asylum request denied by three separate countries, was known to the police, and had been flagged as an extremist.
Despite all this, he wasn’t deported, which led to the death of innocent Europeans.
What’s even more baffling than the Belgian police’s incompetence is the European Parliament’s inability to take the cue and shut their mouth for once.
Parallel world
When the floor was given to a representative from each party group to offer their statement about the attacks, every group chose a Swedish representative. Every leftist MEP began by offering token condolences and then immediately repeating some variation of the same line, purporting that this was an attack on “our free, open, and democratic society.”
“The extremists want to divide us,” declared Alice Kuhnke (Greens).
“We will stand even stronger for our values of freedom, democracy, and openness,” vowed EPP’s Tomas Tobé heroically, who incidentally is the rapporteur of the disastrous Migration Pact, which conservatives believe will only worsen the current situation.
The socialists (S&D) and liberals (Renew) expressed very similar opinions, nearly repeating the same statement about needing to protect freedom and democracy to the letter.
The Left’s Malin Björk went even further by almost openly identifying right-wing nationalism as the true enemy, something that her colleagues only implicitly hinted at.
“These people want to spread fear, hate, division, and further violence. … They want to see different nationalities turn against each other,” Björk said. “We all have a responsibility here to do all that we can do here to build democratic, open, free, inclusive societies that are against and are free from this hate.”
Reality check
On behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) MEP Charlie Weimers from the Sweden Democrats finally rose to put the Left side of the chamber in its place.
Weimers then continued by saying that the attacker operated under the assumption that Sweden had kidnapped Muslim children, a piece of disinformation propagated by Islamist organizations throughout Europe since 2019, as he called for the EU funding of such entities to stop.
“Jews in Europe are being asked to hide their Jewishness. Now we Swedes are recommended to hide our nationality in Europe, our home,” Weimers said before concluding: “European complacency in the face of Islamism must end right here, right now.”
Flemish MEP Gerolf Annemans—the only speaker who did not come from Sweden since the ID group doesn’t have a Swedish delegation—spoke instead of Belgium and its responsibility for what has happened.
“As a Belgian citizen, I have to point the finger at our failed migration policy,” Annemans began. He explained that the Belgian government puts everyone at risk of death by allowing people to stay in the country illegally. He added:
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