11:40GMT—7:40AM/EST
Washington, 6 August (WashingtonTV)—German lawmakers on Wednesday blasted Sweden, the current president of the European Union, for sending its ambassador to yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.
Sweden, France, Britain and Spain were among the European countries that sent envoys to the inauguration, which came nearly seven weeks after the disputed 12 June presidential election.
Gert Weisskierchen, the foreign policy spokesperson of Germany’s Social Democratic Party [SPD], said that Sweden had “crossed” a line, reports the Der Spiegel website.
He said that he “could not understand” why Sweden would send an envoy, as there was consensus among the EU member-states that Ahmadinejad’s election was “irregular”.
Kerstin Müller, the foreign policy spokesperson for the Greens, labeled the Swedish decision as “a devastating signal to the democracy movement,” reports Der Spiegel.
She said that by demanding a new election in Iran on the one hand and attending Ahmadinejad’s inauguration on the other, the EU was creating a “legitimacy” for the president, “which he does not have.”
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt today defended his country’s decision to send Ambassador Magnus Wernstedt to Ahmadinejad’s swearing-in ceremony, while other EU … >>>
