On Thursday, April 3rd, the European Parliament’s Strasbourg plenary adopted a resolution to condemn Iran for executing hundreds of political prisoners each year and to call for revoking the death sentence of two prominent activists facing imminent execution.
However, when the national conservative Patriots for Europe (PfE) wanted to add an amendment to also condemn the treatment of women under Sharia law and warn about the informal spread of the practice in Europe, the Parliament blocked the initiative before MEPs could even vote on it.
EP President Roberta Metsola (EPP) ruled that the Patriots’ amendment was inadmissible due to being “irrelevant” to the resolution on the deterioration of human rights in Iran, even though there is hardly any place on Earth where Sharia law is more strictly enforced.
The amendment in question warned about and condemned the existence and informal application of Sharia law among Muslim communities across Europe. Furthermore, it argued for the prohibition of Sharia law in the EU, and called on the European Commission to “refrain from promoting any culture that does not recognize the equal dignity of men and women.”
However, this was way too much for Brussels. This apparent reluctance to confront Islamic radicalism was called out in Strasbourg by the motion’s author, French MEP Matthieu Valet (RN/PfE):
The aim of my group’s amendment is to draw attention to the fact that this Islamic law today is being promoted in certain communities in Europe, including the Muslim Brotherhood, who advocate for a political Islam to replace the law of the people.
Madam President, are you so afraid of fundamentalists as to dissuade the representatives of the people in the Parliament from expressing themselves democratically on this major subject?
| We proposed an amendment to protect women’s rights from radical Islam and the European Parliament arbitrarily deleted it. Why does defending women offend the EU elite more than jihadist extremism? @mvalet_officiel pic.twitter.com/k7dy2ySRoJ
— Patriots for Europe (@PatriotsEP) April 3, 2025
A second amendment about Iran’s oppression of women submitted by Valet was passed with the help of the other conservative groups and the EPP, but only with a razor-thin margin of 8 votes, as all the leftist parties voted against it.
The amendment simply recognized that “following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini”—who was tortured to death by Iran’s Sharia police in 2022 for not wearing her hijab—“Iranian authorities have intensified efforts to suppress the Women, Life, Freedom movement,” which is the country’s primary protest movement calling for equality between the sexes.
Another Patriot amendment to the 2026 budget recommendations was passed the day before, calling on the EU Commission to cease the promotion of the Islamic veil in official EU campaigns using taxpayer funds. The move was prompted by scandals in recent years, such as the one around Brussels’ 2021 campaign that said “Beauty is in diversity, as freedom is in hijab.” Unsurprisingly, this amendment was rejected by the Left as well.
It seems that when it comes to choosing between women and Islam, the European Left has made up its mind.
Every time you wonder whether your establishment politicians are on your side or on the side of the Islamists, remember this campaign for “Hijab is Freedom” from a few years back.
The elites core ideology is anti-Western in every aspect of life, which is why they need to go. pic.twitter.com/1usqCnm1lH
— Ralph Schoellhammer (@Raphfel) June 25, 2024
