On Tuesday 17 December, MEPs Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France) and Ismail Ertug (S&D, Germany) sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, asking him to ask their colleague Angel Dzhambazki (ECR, Bulgaria) to apologise and possibly reprimand him, after he had made xenophobic remarks about them.
Blaming Ms Delli and Mr Ertug for the outcome of the inter-institutional negotiations ('trilogue') on the social and market aspects of the 'mobility I' package (see EUROPE 12389/7) on the News website Euractiv, Mr Dzhambazki described the former as “a Frenchwoman of Algerian origin” and the latter as “a German of Turkish origin”.
In their letter, a copy of which was sent to EUROPE, the two MEPs stress that such statements are contrary to Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which clearly prohibits any discrimination based on ethnic or social origin.
They also state that they fully respect Mr Dzhambazki's political opinion on the outcome of the trilogues regarding the 'mobility I' package.
This situation illustrates the continuing tensions surrounding this issue, particularly within Parliament. It is well known that Bulgaria, Mr Dzhambazki's country, is strongly opposed to the form of the first mobility package (see EUROPE 12376/13).
See the letter from Ms Delli and Mr Ertug: http://bit.ly/2Q7m77Z (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)