73 candidates running for European Parliament sign ICT’s “2014 for Tibet” pledge

DHARAMSALA, May 27: As European Union goes to polls, 73 candidates running for election to the European Parliament have promised to support for rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people, including re-establishing the Tibet Intergroup in the European Parliament.

Among them were 41 re-running Members of the European Parliament.

They expressed their support by signing the pledge, “2014 for Tibet” launched by the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT).

“As a result of various efforts made by the Tibet Intergroup, the European Parliament has become the main base of support for Tibet within the European Union,” the ICT’s EU Policy Director Vincent Metten said while explaining the importance of signing the pledge.

There were signatories from 16 EU Member States and from all the political groups in the European Parliament. More than half of the signatories of “2014 for Tibet” are affiliated with the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, among them all the re-running Écologie Europe MEPs from France.

“We can’t accept the way in which Tibetans are treated today. The EU has an important role to play, defending vigorously the rights of Tibetan people,” they stated in their joint address.

“The manner, how we treat the Tibetan question, holds a mirror to the EU and tells the world how serious we are about our own values,” Mr Thomas Mann from the European People’s Party and the current president of the Tibet Intergroup said while commenting on the pledge.

After the elections, ICT hope to reach out to the elected MEPs to collect more signatures to the pledge and increase support for Tibet in the European Parliament.

 

 

 

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