MEPs accused of making racist comments towards colleague

The head of the Renew Europe faction of the European Parliament (EP), Valerie Aye, demanded that two members of the right-wing conservative group European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) be punished because of racist comments about the Swedish MP of Iraqi origin, Abeer Al-Sahlani. Politico reports this.

“I am increasingly concerned about the sense of impunity that could take root if such behavior goes unchallenged,” Aye wrote in a letter to EP President Roberta Metsola.

The scandal occurred amid discussion of a bill to tighten the rules for the deportation of migrants. Al-Sahlani said after the debate that she had “never felt so unsafe” in the European Parliament. Her comment was published by Finnish ECR MP Sebastian Tynkkynen and captioned it with the phrase “cry some more,” while Danish MP Kristoffer Storm advised her to “go home.”

Al-Sahlani said the latest comment was a manifestation of "racial discrimination." Renew Europe chief Aye hinted in a letter to Metsola that her faction could sue if nothing was done.

Storm has denied the allegations. “I will not tolerate being called a racist by my political colleagues and I take such defamatory statements very seriously. "'Go home' implied that if she was so upset by a democratic decision and the reaction to it, she would be better off leaving the room and thinking rather than blaming the vast majority of her political opponents for making her feel unsafe," the lawmaker told Politico.