West Asia

EP: Ban on Morales plane unacceptable

Ban on Morales plane unacceptable

European Parliament President Martin Schulz has described as “ridiculous and unacceptable” the measure by certain EU countries to ban Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane to fly over their air space.

Schulz made the remarks in the opening ceremony of a New Economy European Forum in the presence of Spain’s former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez in the capital Madrid on Friday.

On July 2, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy refused to allow Morales’ plane, which was flying from Moscow back to Bolivia, to cross their airspace due to false rumors that US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board.

Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said after the incident that Morales’ life had been put in danger by the forced emergency landing in Austria.

Schulz further said that the European countries refused to allow Morales’s plane to fly through their airspace at the request of the United States.

The European countries must respect the international law, he warned.

The Bolivian president was in Moscow to attend a meeting of natural gas-producing nations.

Bolivia is one of the countries to which Snowden has applied for asylum.

Snowden is currently in a transit zone at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, after the United States revoked his passport to prevent him from travelling further.

He has already sought asylum in 20 countries, namely China, India, Cuba, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Iceland.

Washington has asked these countries not to provide asylum to Snowden.

However, during a Friday speech commemorating the anniversary of the Bolivarian Republic’s independence, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered to grant “humanitarian asylum” to Snowden.

The US has revoked Snowden’s passport, with State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki saying the whistleblower “should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel, other than is necessary to return him to the US.”

Snowden revealed two top secret US government spying programs, under which the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been spying on a global scale.

The NSA scandal took even broader dimensions when Snowden revealed information about US espionage activities targeting countries friendly to the US.

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