The European Union’s Czech presidency urged member states yesterday to summon Iranian envoys in capitals across the union to protest against Tehran’s accusations of western meddling in Iran’s affairs.
It made the appeal one day after Iran summoned EU envoys in Tehran to complain about EU criticism of its handling of protests following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed election win.
“The EU has the right to express its questions on whether the objective criteria of a transparent and democratic electoral process have been upheld in any country,” it said.
“In this respect, the presidency invited EU member states to consider summoning heads of Iranian missions in all EU countries to transmit the same message to Iranian authorities.”
Some countries, including Britain, Germany and France, summoned Iranian diplomats last week to urge Tehran to refrain from violence and complain about a clampdown on the media.
The statement issued by the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency until the end of this month, reiterated concern over violence against demonstrators in Iran, and said the charges of European interference were “baseless and unacceptable”.
President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso said serious doubts existed about how Iran had conducted the election.
“The losing candidate has voiced great doubt about the election result and I think it would be useful to carry out this recount,” Mr Barroso said. – (Reuters)