Iran Freedom Network: 'Remarks by Portuguese MEP Francisco Guerreiro at the Free Iran 2024 World Summit – Day 2'

On June 30, 2024,  at the Free Iran 2024 World Summit – Day 2 hosted at the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) headquarters in Paris, Portuguese MEP Francisco Guerreiro delivered a heartfelt speech reflecting on his five years of working with the Iranian youth and resistance movement.

He highlighted Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan as a crucial framework for establishing a democratic Iran, particularly noting the role of women and youth.

A refined version of Francisco Guerreiro’s speech follows:

Thank you very much. It’s an honor to be here, to be present, and to talk about the five years of my mandate, during which I also worked with the Iranian youth and the Iranian resistance. Since I’ve worked with them, I had the huge pleasure of learning a lot about how to resist and how to build a democracy because we tend to think that democracies are stable, and we kind of see that that’s not the case even in the European Union.

I have three words that I can use to define youth and the resistance movement: hope, resilience, and vision. Let me explain why I chose these three words.

Hope, because we need to dream about a secular democracy, but that dream is not new. We saw that dream being built in the 1950s with Mosadegh, and in 1953, that dream was shattered with the coup d’etat led by Western forces, mainly the US and British forces, that opposed this dream.

Afterward, we know from history that we had a tyrannical rule by the Shah, which led to the 1979 mullah regime, whose consequences we now face. So, the hope of keeping this dream alive of building a secular democracy is one of the keywords that I would use to define this movement.

But also resilience. As we saw, there are thousands of people inside Iran who are willing to put their lives at stake to defend this dream. And also here in the diaspora, the movement that is being brought up is made by the huge efforts, sometimes voluntarily, of thousands of Iranians.

But let’s not forget that hope and resilience without a vision are nothing but a wishful dream. Vision is also very important to establish this transition and not a power vacuum when this revolution really happens in Iran.

The Ten-Point Plan proposed by Mrs. Rajavi is a key aspect that we should take into consideration as politicians, especially as EU legislators. I would emphasize the role of women and youth in this plan.

But I will also point out point 2.9 of the Ten-Point Plan, which is correlated to the environment. Nowadays, we are living in an election where we might have the possibility of having a climate-denier majority in the French national parliament. This is very important because Iran is rich in resources, rich in fossil fuels, and they will need these fossil fuels to make their transition to a clean and sustainable economy. This is why it’s very important for this point to be highlighted by Mrs. Rajavi and to be one of the key points connecting the European Union and the path to a secular democracy and a free Iran.

Since I am ending my office mandate of five years, I will give three pieces of advice to the next commissioners, the next EU leadership, and also to my colleagues in the parliament. Three simple ways that can help the Iranians achieve their freedom and establish a secular democracy. First of all, we need to include the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the EU list of terrorist organizations and entities. Without this, we are supporting the mullahs’ regime and not applying the necessary pressure.

To the next person responsible for foreign affairs, Mrs. Kaja Kallas, if validated, this needs to be a priority. The second priority is not an overwhelming economic one because the trade between the EU and Iran in 2023 was approximately 5.2 billion euros. However, we need to stop trading with Iran because this is hypocrisy. We exported to Iran 4 billion euros worth of products and imported only 1 billion. If we want to be consistent with our foreign policy and with freedom in Iran, we need to stop trading with the mullahs’ regime.

Thirdly, we need to politically validate the NCRI as the only actor that can make this transition to a secular democracy. The next president of the European Commission, the next president of the European Council, and the parliament that I represented for five years need to establish ties to secure, protect, and facilitate this transition with the only viable political solution: the leadership of Mrs. Rajavi. I would say that we have a path. Iran will be free sooner or later. Let’s make it sooner and hope that all together we will go to Tehran to enjoy the beauties of that country.

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