(ANSAmed) - STRASBOURG, 19 JANUARY - The green light was
given to the European Parliament's report concerning
intimidation against journalists in Morocco. The report calls on
the Moroccan authorities to respect the rights of the media, in
particular in the case of Omar Radi. This is the first vote that
concerns Morocco after the Qatargate case erupted. Furthermore,
an amendment proposed by the Left's group expressing "profound
concern" at the accusations that the authorities in Rabat bribed
some MEPs and asking for Moroccan representatives "to have the
same measures applied to them as were applied to representatives
of Qatar" passed too.
What stands out in the vote for the resolution is the 'nay' response of a numerous group of over ten Spanish Socialists. The Italian MEP (from the Forza Italia party), Massimiliano Salini, abstained. What was even more divisive, among the EP Groups, was the vote on the amendment of the Left that calls for the extension of the same measures applied to Qatar - which were already adopted by the EP - to Morocco as well, following the inquiry. These measures include: blocking access to two countries' delegates who are involved in the case. The text passed without the votes of the ECR Group (the European Conservatives and Reformists), whose MEPs, among them the Italian Carlo Fidanza, Nicola Procaccini, Sergio Berlato, Denis Nesci and Raffaele Stancantelli, abstained.(ANSAmed).
What stands out in the vote for the resolution is the 'nay' response of a numerous group of over ten Spanish Socialists. The Italian MEP (from the Forza Italia party), Massimiliano Salini, abstained. What was even more divisive, among the EP Groups, was the vote on the amendment of the Left that calls for the extension of the same measures applied to Qatar - which were already adopted by the EP - to Morocco as well, following the inquiry. These measures include: blocking access to two countries' delegates who are involved in the case. The text passed without the votes of the ECR Group (the European Conservatives and Reformists), whose MEPs, among them the Italian Carlo Fidanza, Nicola Procaccini, Sergio Berlato, Denis Nesci and Raffaele Stancantelli, abstained.(ANSAmed).
