ALDE’s Gerea accuses EU leaders of double standards after massive protests in France

Referring to the protests that took place in France on Saturday, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) Vice President Andrei Gerea wondered where the great leaders of the EU are, considering that they should have condemned the violent protests just as they did in the case of the protests that took place in Romania in August. “As headlined by the international press, a massive protest against the French Government and President Macron took place on Saturday, involving, according to Le Figaro, 282,000 protesters. An anti-Government protest is not a novelty, but during Saturday’s protest law enforcement officers used teargas as well as force to disperse the protesters. The result? According to the Interior Ministry, more than 100 persons have been injured, five of them seriously, at various roadblocks. According to the same Interior Ministry, 52 persons were detained, 38 of them being placed under pre-trial arrest, and this is provisional data. Unfortunately, there was also a tragedy, one person lost their life,” Andrei Gerea pointed out in a press release remitted to MEDIAFAX on Sunday. The House lawmaker added that the way French gendarmes acted during the protest on Saturday has not been discussed like the Romanian gendarmes’ intervention during the protest in Victory Square on August 10. “I haven’t seen in Romania a serious discussion about these violent incidents, about the way French gendarmes act against protesters. ‘They are gassing us, we’re peaceful, no window has been broken. We only want to express our ideas,’ one of the protesters stated, a statement that is overlooked by the anti-Government propaganda in Romania. In August, the propaganda’s deontologists and analysts were accusing the gendarmes’ intervention in Bucharest, saying that nowhere in the world does one use teargas and force against peaceful protesters. Opposition politicians, headed by USR and PNL, were accusing the Gendarmerie for the way they did their job. Their populism has meant that the action of the gendarmes has been presented in Europe as a groundless attack against the citizens,” Gerea added. He wondered whether Romanian Opposition parties will act the same way now, in the sense of notifying the UN or of asking for a resolution against France. “Today we see how French gendarmes act in the case of a much bigger protest than the one in Bucharest. What does the Opposition have to say now, the great deontologists who were accusing Romanian gendarmes? Will they file notifications with the UN, will they go and ask for a resolution against France? I’m keenly waiting for PNL’s MEPs, who voted against Romania, as well as for Dacian Ciolos and USR’s representatives, to demand the resignation of Emmanuel Macron and the French Government following the violent incidents on Saturday. I expect Monica Macovei, Siegfried Muresan and the other traitors of Romania’s interests, who voted for the resolution against our country, to act the same way in the case of other states too. Or are they driven solely by domestic political interests?”, Andrei Gerea said. The ALDE Vice President also mentioned the resolution that the European Parliament adopted last Tuesday, asking whether European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EC First Vice President Frans Timmermans will publicly condemn the violent incidents in France. “On Tuesday, the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg adopted the resolution on the rule of law in Romania, which condemns the “violent and disproportionate intervention of the police during the protests in Bucharest in August 2018.” Will the highly honourable MEPs demand that France be condemned for the violent incidents on Saturday? Will Franz Timmermans or Jean Claude Juncker condemn what happened in France? Will some German MEP, maybe even Manfred Weber, Ms Merkel’s favourite, defend the French people from state institutions, as he did in Romania’s case? Or will we witness new indifference on the part of the political leaders of the European Union and the enforcement of double standards when it comes to Western European states?” Gerea explained. At the same time, he added that he awaits “with interest the notification of the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee, if it takes place, as well as the potential consequences at European level following these events. If we want a harmonised European Union in which all members are treated equally, then it’s not possible for the violent incidents in France not to be condemned.”

The post ALDE’s Gerea accuses EU leaders of double standards after massive protests in France appeared first on Nine O' Clock.