The resolution adopted this Wednesday at the European Parliament in Strasbourg recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism divided Portuguese MEPs. Some socialists and blockists abstained because they considered it counterproductive.
By 494 votes to 58 and 44 abstentions, MEPs adopted a resolution this Wednesday at the plenary session in Strasbourg (France) condemning Russian attacks on Ukraine as “terrorism and war crimes”🇧🇷
Opinions were divided in the Socialist Party: five deputies were in favor and four abstained.
According to an information note sent to Lusa, Socialist MEP Isabel Santos “the adoption of this classification risks negatively conditioning the future”and is “a dangerous path that could jeopardize the proper prosecution of war crimes committed on the territory and against the people of Ukraine”🇧🇷
Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, also from the PS, defended this in turn “it would be better to continue to convict Russia within the framework of international law so that in the future it can be tried for the war crimes it has committed against the people of Ukraine”🇧🇷
Members of the Left Bloc abstained, deeming the resolution useless from the point of view of supporting Ukraine and counterproductive from the point of view of the struggle for a just peace.
The party believed, also in a note sent to Lusa, that the resolution aims to derail all paths to peace, as well as all dialogues with those in Russia who oppose it [ao Presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin, turning the characterization of the Putin regime into a characterization of all of Russia and its people, including those in Russia who have resisted this invasion.”🇧🇷
The head of the PSD delegation, José Manuel Fernandes, whose party voted in favor of the resolution, told Lusa that “The Prime Minister and Secretary General of the Socialist Party, António Costa, must explain why half of the Socialist MEPs in the European Parliament abstained on a resolution endorsing Ukraine and the Russian regime’s sponsorship of terrorist groups is condemned”🇧🇷
“The PS and its secretary-general must ensure that there is no doubt about supporting Ukraine and condemning the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin.”he claimed.
The CDS-PP, in turn, pointed out that it agreed when it voted in favor of the European Parliament’s resolution, considering that “The deliberate attacks and atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine and the destruction of civilian infrastructure and other serious violations of international and humanitarian law constitute acts of terrorism and constitute war crimes”🇧🇷
PCP members of the European Parliament, who voted against the resolution, reaffirmed, according to an information note sent to Lusa, that it is urgent that the United States, NATO and the European Union (EU) “stop provoking and fueling the war in Ukraine and open negotiating channels with the other players, namely the Russian Federation, with a view to reaching a political solution (…), since it is necessary to defend the dialogue with for peace”🇧🇷
The text of the resolution also calls for greater isolation of Russia and the closing and banning of institutions associated with the Russian state that function as propaganda promoters.
The resolution also calls on the EU Council to include in the list of terrorist organizations the Russian paramilitary organization “Wagner Group”, the 141st Special Motorized Regiment, also known as “Kadyrovites” and other armed groups, militias and Kremlin-funded forces. take (Russian Presidency).
The resolution, voted on nine months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is non-binding.
MEPs have eight days to submit explanations of vote to justify their position.
Source: DN
