Press Release, 24-10-2002
Twenty-seven (27) members of the Swedish Parliament have signed a letter addressed to Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende, calling on the Dutch government to withdraw its listing of the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) and Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, Chief Political Consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), as terrorists.
The Swedish Parliamentarians point out that such listing seriously jeopardizes the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP. They declare that their appeal to de-list the CPP, NPA and Professor Sison is in accordance with the European Parliament Resolutions in 1997 and 1999 strongly supporting the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.
Several of the Swedish Parliamentarians have raised questions in the Swedish Parliament asking the government, particularly the Prime Minister Goran Persson, to make true his public pronouncements opposing the terror listing.
In an interview with the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Sept. 7, 2002, Swedish Prime Minister Persson declared: “The Guantanamo base situation (where the terror suspects are kept in custody) and the lists (on suspected organizations and persons) are unacceptable. Those lists came after a UN decision, and from my point of view is a shame.” He added: “From the start, it was never the intention that individuals be put on any terror list.” The European Union (EU) decides by consensus. If any member state of the EU objects to the request of another to put any organization or individual on the terror list, then no decision is made. And the requesting state is obliged to withdraw from the terror list at its own national level the organization or individual it seeks to blacklist at the European level.
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