Nederländerna röstade för att sätta Irans Revolutionära Garde på EUs terrorlista

Netherland's parliament voted to put Iran's RGC on EU-terror list - Jerusalem Post

| 2009-11-28 | la | english |

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‘Put Iran’s RGC on EU-terror list’

Nov. 27, 2009
BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, Jerusalem Post correspondent in Berlin , THE JERUSALEM POST

A majority of the Netherlands parliament voted this past week to place Iran’s elite military unit, the Revolutionary Guards, on the European Union (EU) terror list.

The Dutch resolution appears to be the first European motion to target the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity.

The resolution cited the IRGC’s support for Hamas and Hizbullah as reasons to label the Guards as an unlawful organization fomenting terror.
A second anti-terror resolution was also passed by the Dutch parliament. That motion urges the UN-affiliated International Maritime Organization (IMO) to bar Iran from “accession” to the IMO council because of Teheran’s “illegal transportation of weapons.”

While the United States designated the Revolutionary Guards a global terrorist organization in 2007, European Union countries have been reluctant about clamping down on the 125,000 member military wing of the regime. The resolution will be discussed in December at an EU meeting in Brussels.

When asked if the German government plans to support the Dutch parliament motion on the EU level, a Foreign Office spokesman said, “We have a good policy of not commenting on friendly European neighbors and partners, especially resolutions of independent parliaments.”

According to the resolution, the “IRGC is increasingly functioning as the most important instrument of the present regime” and “this organization has played a leading role during the bloody suppression of the recent popular protests and that it is increasingly active in facilitating international terrorism, among which support to Hamas, Hizbullah and anti-Western militias in Iraq.”

The resolution urged “the Government (Dutch) to advance that the European Union places the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the European list of terrorist organizations.” A political left versus right vote split among the Dutch parties was evident, in which 80 votes from the conservative-liberal parties favoured the terror label and 70 votes from the left of center parties opposed the resolution.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen’s Christian Democratic Party voted for the anti-IRGC resolution. The liberal and right-of-center parties-the Christian Union, the Orthodox Protestant Christians, Gert Wilders’ Party for Freedom, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy- also supported the legislation.

In contrast to the voting pattern of the liberal and conservative parties, the block of leftist parties-the Labour party, the left-wing Liberals, Greens, Socialist Party, and Party for Animals-rejected the designation of the IRGC as a terror organization.

The groundbreaking vote of the Dutch parliament has received scant attention in the European press. Critics argue that the EU’s flourishing trade relationship with Teheran plays a significant factor in blocking the labelling of the Revolutionary Guards as a terror organization. Last year, the European Union did 14.1 billion euro worth of trade with Iran.

Meanwhile, the Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin is slated to discuss the role of the IRGC at its international conference “Time to Act” on Saturday and Sunday in Berlin. Israeli, German and American experts will be speaking at the event.“Money, Power and Terror: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps” is one of the panels at the event. The global terror of the IRGC and its economic system in the Islamic Republic are listed as lectures.

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1259243015925&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

As expected (with a clear majority of Parliament underwriting the relevant drafts on the submission day, November 18), a majority of the Dutch Parliament voted in favor of the two following resolutions regarding Iran.



# 1 (Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps)

32 123 V nr. 50 (18 November 2009)

The (Second) Chamber,

having heard the deliberation,

acknowledging that the so called Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is increasingly functioning as the most important instrument of the present Iranian regime;

also acknowledging, that this organization has played a leading role during the bloody suppression of the recent popular protests and that it is also increasingly active in facilitating international terrorism, among which support to Hamas, Hezbollah and anti-Western militia's in Iraq;

considering, that meanwhile and for named reasons, the United States have formally designated this organization as a terrorist organization;

requests the Government to advance that the European Union places the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on the European list of terrorist organizations as well.

and proceeds to the order of the day.


(SUBMITTED BY)

Van der Staaij                             NOTE WK: SGP -- Political Reformed Party (Orthodox Protestant Christian, opposition)

Voordewind                                NOTE WK: CU   -- Christian Union (Reformed Protestant Christian Party, member of the government coalition)

Haverkamp                                 NOTE WK: CDA -- Christian Democratic Party ('general' Christian party, member of the government coalition)

De Roon                                     NOTE WK: PVV -- Party for Freedom (Wilders, opposition)

Nicolaï                                       NOTE WK: VVD -- Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy (right wing Liberal party, opposition)



# 2 (Iranian membership of the International Maritime Organization -- IMO)

32 123 V nr. 31 (18 November 2009)

The (Second) Chamber,

having heard the deliberation,

considering, that the Netherlands, being a member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO),  will be guided by the relevance of candidate countries for the work and the objectives of the IMO, at the meeting for the election of the 40 member IMO Council;
considering, that the IMO takes care of coordinating authorities and the shipping industry concerning the improvement of maritime safety, during  which [process] strategic security information is exchanged;
considering, that Iran wishes to play a role in the suppression of piracy and that it wishes to become a member of the IMO Council;
considering, that with a view on the present developments in Iran concerning the nuclear file and the illegal transportation of weapons, [Iranian] accession to this body is not opportune;
requests the government, being a member of the IMO-meeting, not to support the accession of Iran in the election of the Council,

and proceeds to the order of the day.

(SUBMITTED BY)

Haverkamp                                 NOTE WK: CDA -- Christian Democratic Party ('general' Christian party, member of the government coalition)
Voordewind                                NOTE WK: CU   -- Christian Union (Reformed Protestant Christian Party, member of the government coalition)

Van der Staaij                             NOTE WK: SGP -- Political Reformed Party (Orthodox Protestant Christian, opposition)

Nicolaï                                       NOTE WK: VVD -- Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy (right wing Liberal party, opposition)


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This resolution was not signed in advance by the PVV (apparently, the initiators did not bother to ask), but was reportedly supported wholeheartedly by that party.


On resolutions in the Dutch political system:
Resolutions reflect the will of Parliament, but the Government can choose to ignore them, even when a clear majority of Parliament has voted in favor. It is good practice, however, that a Government Minister dissuades Parliament from voting on a resolution, when he has no intention to carry it out or when he is convinced that there is little chance that it can be successfully executed.
In the case of the IRGC, the Foreign Minister expressed doubt about the feasibility of successfully putting the organization on the EU list (a process involving not only 26 other member states, but also an immense and complicated EU bureaucracy), but he did not advise against voting on the resolution. (Suggestions were made to only call for the designation of the Quds Force, but the initiators of the resolution rejected that.) Therefore, we should see this resolution primarily as a strong symbolic act and an autherative statement (implicitly supported by the Dutch Government) delegitimizing the IRGC as the most important instrument of the Mullah regime.

Some of the short term consequences/profit items:
1. Dutch FM is more or less forced to discuss the status of the IRGC on a European level.
2. Leverage for STB initiatives regarding the IRGC in other EU member states.
3. IRGC and connected entities are named and shamed.
Consequently, European companies that do business with entities belonging or connected to the IRGC can be approached with a message that they are knowingly dealing with an entity that has been designated a terrorist organization by the Dutch Parliament.