NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
Amnesty International activists display a banner with the word “Shame” in front of the European Commission headquarters in protest against the meeting with a Taliban delegation in Brussels
The meeting served to discuss the return to Afghanistan of people who committed serious crimes or who pose a threat to Europe. Bloco wants to know if Portugal was represented in this “shameful chapter”.
European Commission services, representatives of Member States and a delegation from the Taliban regime in Afghanistan participated in a meeting on June 23 in Brussels.
The increasingly criticized meeting served to discuss the return to Afghanistan of people who committed serious crimes or who pose a threat to Europe.
The meeting was the first with representatives from the European Union since the Taliban took power in 2021.
On Monday, the Euractiv news platform reported that a delegation of five Taliban representatives had received visas to travel to Brussels and participate, on Tuesday, in technical talks with European officials on migration. According to the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the visas were issued after a security assessment carried out by civil and military intelligence services.
The visit constitutes a significant step in the efforts of several European countries to establish contacts with the Taliban, who have ruled Afghanistan since 2021, without any formal political recognition.
The talks reportedly focused on cooperation mechanisms for identifying Afghan citizens subject to deportation for having committed crimes or being considered a threat to securityas well as issuing travel documents necessary for return to Afghanistan.
According to European sources cited by Euractiv, the meetings took place exclusively at a technical level and without political participation, to avoid any perception of diplomatic recognition of the Taliban Government.
“The ability to repatriate individuals who do not have the legal right to remain in the country is a fundamental pillar of a reliable and efficient asylum and migration system,” said Swedish Minister for Migration, Johan Forssell, after the negotiations.
“This is a shameful chapter for Europe”said Cecilia Strada, MEP from the center-left group S&D, cited by . “The Commission is legitimizing a regime that tramples on the rights of women and girls.”
“It is a real affront to the values allegedly defended by the European Union and Belgium,” Ludovic Laus, from Amnesty International, told AFP.
“The Taliban erased women and girls from public life,” recalled Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by Pakistani Taliban militants at the age of 15 and said she was “shaken and deeply disturbed” by the EU’s invitation.
BE issues protest vote
This Saturday, BE delivered a protest vote in Parliament against the meeting between the European Commission and the Taliban regime delegation, and questioned the Government about whether Portugal was represented at the meeting.
In a protest vote delivered to the Assembly of the Republic, BE’s sole deputy, Fabian Figueiredo, proposes that the Portuguese parliament condemn the holding of the meeting, considering it “a political gesture of profound gravity”, a month after the European Parliament approved “a resolution that qualifies the Taliban regime as a system of gender apartheid and its performance as a crime against humanity”.
In the project, the Bloc argues that European Union institutions must cease “any negotiations aimed at granting consular status or immunities to representatives of a regime whose leadership is subject to arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court”.
The party also wants the Assembly of the Republic to “reaffirm its solidarity with Afghan women, girls and all who, in Afghanistan and the rest of the world, actively resist the persecution imposed by the Taliban regime”, after having already approved, in 2024, a resolution denouncing this fundamentalist movement that governs Afghanistan.
On the same matter, the Blocist deputy addressed a question, via parliamentary means, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Presidency to find out whether Portugal was represented at this meeting and, if so, which service, body or representative ensured this participation, as well as “in what terms the national position was transmitted”.
“What is the position of the Portuguese Government, within the framework of European Union bodies, regarding the Taliban’s intention to restore the Afghan consular network and resume consular services on European soil, considering that this would imply granting diplomatic status and immunities to representatives of a regime whose leadership is subject to arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court?”, Fabian Figueiredo also asks.
The Bloc also asks what steps have been taken by the executive since the approval of the 2024 Parliament resolution on this matter and also how Portugal ensures that any cooperation with “return and readmission fully respects the principle of ‘non-refoulement’ [não-repulsão] and Portugal’s obligations regarding the right to asylum and international protection”.
