Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 23 November 2022 - Strasbourg

Recognising the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism (RC-B9-0482/2022, B9-0482/2022, B9-0483/2022, B9-0485/2022, B9-0486/2022, B9-0487/2022)

  Mick Wallace (The Left). – Mr President, there is no legal framework for the EU to recognise a state sponsor of terrorism. You just pulled this antagonistic performance out of thin air. Even the US, who have such a legal mechanism, have refrained from applying the label to Russia. Biden has argued that doing so could impact future efforts to negotiate a peace deal.

The European Parliament, instead of pursuing peace and an end to this bloody war – a war that’s killing tens of thousands, decimating European industry and jobs, creating soaring inflation and an unprecedented cost of living crisis – instead of any effort at diplomacy to remedy this disaster, you have voted to call Russia names.

What’s worse, NATO is one of the most blood-drenched terrorist groups to curse this earth. It has murdered millions of human beings. The idea that any representative of a NATO member state would label anyone else a sponsor of terrorism before calling out their own state is absurd.