European Parliament delegation in Iran for talks

An eight-member team from the European Parliament (EP) has arrived in Iran to hold talks with officials of the Islamic Republic.

The team, which arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran on Friday, is led by Tarja Cronberg, who sits on the EP’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Among other members of the visiting European team are Cornelia Ernst, Josef Weidenholzer, Marietje Schaake and Isabelle Durant.

The visit comes at the invitation of Kazem Jalali, the head of Iran’s Majlis Research Center.

During their stay, the European parliamentarians are scheduled to sit down with Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Majlis Alaeddin Boroujerdi and a number of other Iranian officials.

The delegation will wrap up their visit on December 16.

The EP is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU).

Cronberg also chairs an EP body known as the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Iran, which was established following the 2004 European elections, as a means of establishing a direct channel of communication between the EP and the Majlis of the Islamic Republic of Iran.