European Union lawmakers have condemned the International Olympic Committee’s decision to set a path for some athletes from Russia and Belarus to try to qualify for the 2024 Paris Games.
In a resolution adopted Thursday by 444 votes to 26 with 37 abstentions, EU lawmakers said allowing them to compete under a neutral flag ‘runs against the multifaceted isolation of those countries and will be used by both schemes for propaganda purposes”.
The IOC has argued that it would be discriminatory to exclude Russia and its ally Belarus from the sport ahead of the Paris Olympics. With qualifications in many sports already underway, the IOC wants athletes from those countries to compete in a neutral dress with no national symbols.
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IOC President Thomas Bach and the IOC have faced widespread backlash from Ukraine and its allies, including comments directed at him by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, has created a path for Russian athletes to play in the Paris Olympics. UN lawmakers are shocked by the IOC president’s decision. (Bernd Weissbrod/picture alliance via Getty Images)
In its resolution marking a year of war, the European Parliament urged the 27 EU countries and the international community to pressure the IOC to reverse its decision, “which is an embarrassment to the international world of sport”.
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The lawmakers also called on member states to seriously consider sending fighter planes to Ukraine and said EU-frozen Russian assets should be used to rebuild Ukraine. They also called for expanded sanctions against Moscow and demanded that accession talks on Ukraine joining the EU begin this year.
