A delegation representing dozens of civil rights NGOs has reportedly met with the cabinet of European Parliament president Roberta Metsola to demand action against right-wing MEPs who celebrated the recent adoption of the EU Returns Regulation by chanting “Send them back!” in the plenary chamber.
The delegation included Amnesty International, Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, Doctors Without Borders, OXFAM, and ILGA-Europe. The groups want Metsola to at least make a public statement at the beginning of next week’s plenary session in Strasbourg “to restore the respect of human rights and dignity in the plenary as well as remind all members of the rules of the house.”
The meeting follows the publication of an open letter to Metsola, dated June 25th, in which the 68 signatories accuse the right-wing MEPs of breaking the Parliament rules by damaging Parliament’s “dignity and reputation.”
Missing from the NGOs’ letter is any acknowledgement that the MEPs involved were elected on promises to tighten migration policy. The chant came immediately after Parliament approved legislation designed to speed up the deportation of rejected asylum seekers and other migrants with no legal right to remain in the EU.
The legislation is intended to improve the bloc’s long-standing failure to enforce deportation orders. Last year, only 28% of people issued with return orders actually left the EU, meaning almost three-quarters remained despite having no legal right to stay. Supporters hope the new rules will significantly improve that figure.
Footage of the celebration quickly went viral, with right-wing MEPs chanting “Send them back!” as left-wing colleagues responded with cries of “Shame on you!” The NGOs argued that the viral footage made the incident particularly serious. In their letter, they argued that since parliamentary proceedings are broadcast and publicly accessible, “expressions made in the chamber carry significance beyond the immediate political moment and help shape wider public discourse.”
Furthermore, the signatories argue that this was not an isolated incident, and that they have seen “a clear increase in misogynist and sexist, LGBTI-phobic as well as racist and antisemitic hate speech” in the Parliament recently, which they have accused the Parliament’s leadership of failing to address properly.
Alongside a public statement from Metsola, the NGOs are also calling for procedural changes to give committee chairs and plenary presidents stronger powers to deal with similar incidents in future.
