Diana Șoșoacă Ejected from European Parliament Plenary Session

By Romania Journal Last updated Jul 18, 2024

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MEP Diana Șoșoacă was thrown out of the plenary session of the European Parliament during the meeting at the end of which it will be decided whether Ursula von der Leyen remains the president of the European Commission.

EP President Roberta Metsola asked to remove Diana Sosoacă from the hall because she was trying to interrupt the speech of MEP Valerie Hayer from Renew.

“How many colleagues does it take to be escorted out of the gym? I think you have spoken enough“, said the head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, to Diana Șoșoăca’s shouts.

“I have the right to speak. I was voted by the Romanians! And you kill people in Romania,” said Soșoacă, showing a black bag, while being asked to leave the room.

“Don’t touch me,” Sosoacă yelled at one of those who had to escort her out.

Soșoacă, the leader of the far-right party SOS, was eventually escorted out of the plenary hall to the applause of MEPs.

In the EP corridors, Sosoacă told journalists that Brussels is “Satan’s house.” “The House of Satan is here in Brussels,” said Soșoacă after she was forcibly removed from the EP plenary.

Asked by journalists what she is asking MEPs to do, the deputy answered: “To listen to the citizens.Why are they so bothered by an icon? We are Christians, in Romania there are 98% Christians. We are Orthodox, we believe in God. We have the right to speak! Where is our right to speak. They drew a lottery for the person to speak. Why? (…) Another problem is the LGBT community, we don’t want our children to be converted”.

In a post on Facebook, PPE vice-president Siegfried Mureșan wrote that in Brussels “indiscipline and violation of the rules are immediately sanctioned” and that Șoșoăcă “made himself a laughingstock”.

The incidents involving the far-right SOS leader kicked off on Wednesday, when Soșoacă addressed the European Parliament and accused Europe of “destroying Romania” and impoverishing the Romanians “by helping the Ukrainians non-stop”.

In her short speech, the Romanian MEP accused Europe of “destroying Romania” by helping Ukraine and that “peace is not made by sending weapons”.

She also said she went to the Russian embassy because it was “the only side that wanted to discuss peace.” She also accused Ukraine of discriminating against the Romanian minority, who, according to her, “does not have the right to speak Romanian”.

Diana-Iovanovici Sosoacă is part of the group of unaffiliated MEPs after several groups refused her, including sovereignists.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) joined forces with other far-right parties and formed the “Europe of Sovereign Nations” group on July 10 The SOS Romania party, which includes MEPs Diana Şoşoacă and Luis Lazarus, was not accepted by the new parliamentary group, due to the opposition of the Hungarian Patria Noastra party, Reuters reports.

“At our request, the group rejected the request for membership ofof the SOS Romania party,” said Laszlo Torozckai, president of the ultra-nationalist Patria Noastra party.

Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament

Rule 182 : Immediate measures

1. The President shall call to order any Member who breaches the standards of conduct defined in Rule 10 (3) or (4).

2. If the breach is repeated, the President shall call the Member to order a second time, and the fact shall be recorded in the minutes.

3. If the breach continues, or if a further breach is committed, the Member may be denied the right to speak and may be excluded from the Chamber by the President for the remainder of the sitting. In cases of exceptional seriousness, the President may also resort to exclusion of the Member concerned from the Chamber for the remainder of the sitting immediately and without a second call to order . The Secretary-General shall, without delay, see to it that such disciplinary measures are carried out, with the assistance of the ushers and, if necessary, of Parliament’s Security Service.

4. Should disturbances threaten to obstruct the business of the House, the President shall close or suspend the sitting for a specific period in order to restore order. If the President cannot make himself or herself heard, he or she shall leave the chair; this shall have the effect of suspending the sitting. The President shall reconvene the sitting.

5. The President may decide to interrupt the live broadcasting of the sitting in the case of a breach of Rule 10 (3) or (4) by a Member.

6. The President may order the deletion from the audiovisual record of the proceedings of those parts of a speech by a Member that breach Rule 10 (3) or (4).

That order shall take immediate effect. It shall, however, be subject to confirmation by the Bureau not later than four weeks thereafter, or, if the Bureau does not meet during that period, at its next meeting.

7. The powers provided for in paragraphs 1 to 6 shall be vested, mutatis mutandis, in the presiding officers of bodies, committees and delegations as provided for in the Rules of Procedure.

8. Where appropriate, and bearing in mind the seriousness of the breach of the standards of conduct of Members, the Member in the chair of a part-session, body, committee or delegation may, no later than the following part-session or the following meeting of the body, committee or delegation concerned, ask the President to apply Rule 183.

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