"These remarks show contempt for the rule of law but confirm the EU’s blacklisting of the PMOI since 2002 was illegal."  
In comments that breach the ruling of 12 December 2006 by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that Iran’s principal opposition, the PMOI, be removed from the EU’s list of terrorist groups, the French Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on 9 February: “I believe the organisation was put on the list and that there was a decision by the European judicial authorities, mainly for procedural reasons, that said there were not sufficient grounds for listing it. Matters are now being straightened out so that the organisation can be put back on the European list. We are entirely in favour of it being kept on the list.”
 
These remarks show contempt for the rule of law but confirm the EU’s blacklisting of the PMOI since 2002 was illegal.
 
The ECJ verdict annulled the EU's decision to freeze the assets of the PMOI on the grounds that it was involved in terrorist acts. It ordered the EU to pay four-fifths of its legal costs.
 
EU member states have an obligation to abide by the decisions of the European Court. The French Foreign Ministry’s announcement simply encourages Iran to continue its nuclear weapons development and the export of fundamentalism and terrorism to Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Somalia.
 
The Foreign Ministry remarks echo those of President Jacques Chirac who told three respected journals last week that he was not worried about the mullahs obtaining “one or two nuclear weapons.” Instead of appeasing Iran, the French government should support the Iranian Resistance in its pursuit of freedom and democracy.

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale
Chairman,
British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom