A group of European officials, including the Members of European Parliament (MEP), have threatened to impose economic and other sanctions on the Maldives if the present regime fails to hold free and fair federal elections, scheduled for September 23 this year.
The five European officials, who recently visited Male, include MEPs Tomas Zdechovsky, Maria Gabriela Zoana and Ryzsard Czarnecki, Henri Malosse, the 30th President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), and Madi Sharma, a British EESCrepresentative.
The delegation, who met with members of the Opposition party, uncovered disturbing, undemocratic trends occurring in the archipelago. They said attacks on democratic principles, combined with close ties to radical Islamist groups, brought the security of European tourists, business and investors into question.
MEP Ryzsard Czarnecki stated “Europe needs to do much more, and must coordinate with its international partners. But there should also be a warning to the people surrounding President Yameen who have committed human rights violations in his name: your names will be shared globally; there will be nowhere to hide. Yameen’s only loyalty is to power and greed. In the future, he will not come to the defence of those keeping him in power now.”
“These are not false threats. The individuals concerned should consider their actions, as European sanctions will have serious economic consequences. A travel ban and frozen assets will impact business owners, thus stifling political support for those responsible for these violations,” Czarnecki added.
MEP Tomas Zdechovsky said “the international community will not stand by and accept a false election result; they will act together against the perpetrators – Europe is serious, its Members States are concerned and together they will work with the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Japan to uphold democracy and the democratic process. The sanctions list will be disclosed.”
“The situation in Maldives is a threat for the entire international community and concerns all of us. This situation could happen anywhere in a world where an ambitious apprentice-dictator builds a prison for his or her own people, supported by an aggressive superpower and terrorist groups. We will not let Yameen transform the paradise islands of the Maldives to a hell. If Yameen wins with threats and fraud, we won’t just ban his close friends, we will ban the whole country from tourism and investment,” added Henri Malosse, the President of the EESC.

As carried in ANI