00:00Joining us on Euronews is the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Mertzola.
00:05President, thank you very much for joining us.
00:07You've had some very severe condemnation to the Iranian regime
00:11and words of support for the people of Iran.
00:14The difference is important.
00:15How concerned are you about the situation on the ground?
00:18Well, ever since I became President of this Parliament,
00:20I have made it my mission to make sure that we stand with fights for freedoms around the world.
00:27And this is why we are appalled by what's happening in Iran and we could not stand idly by
00:32when we see that a regime is using violence, it's using repression, it's using regression and abuse
00:39in order to clamp down on what we believe to be fundamental freedoms.
00:43In fact, these are universal freedoms.
00:45And that is why we took the step to ban Iranian diplomats and staff representing the regime from entering these premises.
00:53This has brought political support inside this House because we stand for the very opposite of what the regime stands for.
01:01And President, the international community set a very clear red line and that is the protest should not turn into a bloodshed.
01:07Unfortunately, it seems that is the way it's going.
01:09What can the European Union do at this point?
01:12Well, we've stood with the protesters ever since we've started to see people gather on the streets.
01:19We've also condemned the fact that communications have been blacked out.
01:24We've seen four whole days of blackouts.
01:26We're now starting to see a little bit more of messaging coming through.
01:29We welcome any attempt to help them technologically because we need to see what is happening.
01:34And as you said, these are not just protests that are being accepted and being respected.
01:41They are being clamped down upon.
01:43We've seen violence.
01:44We've seen assassinations.
01:45This is not something we will tolerate.
01:47And the Iranian community, the Iranian protesters have asked us for solidarity, for help, for messages,
01:53but not only for us to go a step further, to increase sanctions, to put the IRGC on the list of terrorists.
01:59They should be considered now as a terrorist organization.
02:01We've been in a position of the European Parliament for many years now.
02:04Ever since we've seen those brave women on the streets of Iran calling out for their life and their liberty and their rights and their dignity.
02:13This is why we have said that this theocracy, autocracy, should no longer be in power.
02:20We are calling for the Iranians to be able to see how this regime could come to an end.
02:25And we fully support them in that.
02:27Would you like to see the capitals and the rest of European institutions moving as fast as you have done with the actions in the European Parliament?
02:33And with that kind of clear language saying, yes, more sanctions and yes, this is a terror group.
02:38Because it seems from the outside, the world is waiting to figure out whether President Trump is going to intervene in military or not.
02:44Should the European Union wait?
02:45I think the European Union has a golden moment in order for it to show its firmness, its strength and also its clarity.
02:54We support freedom.
02:55This is a fundamental pillar of everything we've built our union on.
03:00So there's no need to wait for President Trump.
03:02The EU should go from now.
03:04Our appeal is to go now.
03:06We think that 2026 should be the year when dictatorships are over.
03:11And this is a golden moment for the European Union, for Europe, for member states, governments to say this regime, as the German Chancellor said, is on its last legs.
03:20We fully agree with it and we should go further.
03:22And that is my final question.
03:23Do you believe now this is 2026?
03:26This is the ending of this regime.
03:28It comes to an end in 2026.
03:30If not now, when?
03:31The people of Iran are calling for this to happen.
03:35We believe in them.
03:36We believe in all their efforts in order to see that there is a change.
03:40There is a fall of the regime.
03:43How that happens, that's not for us to say.
03:44It's for the Iranian people to determine.
03:47But we support them.
03:48President, thank you very much for joining us on Iran News.
