The assassination of American conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk unleashed a bitter debate among European lawmakers on Thursday over whether to honour him with a moment of silence, reports 24brussels.
Kirk was shot and killed by an unknown assailant while onstage at an outdoor event in western Utah on Wednesday. A few hours later, Charlie Weimers from the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the Parliament urged his colleagues to observe a minute of silence during Thursday’s plenary session in Kirk’s memory.
“Political violence is not only increasing; it is becoming systemic,” Weimers wrote, referencing incidents of intimidation against right-wing politicians, including Danish lawmaker Inger Støjberg and Sweden’s Carl-Oskar Bohlin.
Weimers’ plea received commendation from other right-wing politicians. Austria’s Roman Haider stated that the minute of silence would be “a dignified gesture to express our solidarity, to honour his memory.” German AFD member René Aust even suggested nominating Kirk for Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, a prestigious award previously given to Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai.
However, liberal French lawmaker Nathalie Loiseau voiced her disagreement.
“Political violence is despicable, wherever it comes from and whoever is the target,” she noted, asserting that whether Kirk deserves recognition from Parliament is another matter entirely. Loiseau also highlighted an old social media post in which Kirk referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “an ungrateful petulant child who is responsible for 1 million dead.”
Crunch time
The decision regarding a minute of silence typically rests with the President of the Parliament. Parliament insiders indicated that although Weimers was granted a point of order, a minute of silence had not been approved.
Upon resuming its session at noon on Thursday, Weimers praised Kirk before stating, “I yield the rest of my time for a moment of silence.” Lawmakers from the Parliament’s right-wing factions stood in support.
However, Katarina Barley, the Parliament Vice-President, interrupted. “We have discussed this, and you know that the president has said ‘No’ to a minute of silence,” she replied to applause from left-wing MEPs.
As Barley moved on to the next agenda item, right-wing members expressed their frustration by banging on their tables.
“It is a disgrace to Europe that we do not honour a man who stood for dialogue,” Henrik Dahl from the EPP lamented in a written statement. “I stood up to honour Charlie Kirk.”
The office of Parliament President Roberta Metsola, a member of the centre-right EPP, reaffirmed that “minutes of silence are announced by the President at the opening of the plenary.” The plenary for the week had commenced on Monday.
Metsola denounced the assassination late Wednesday, stating, “Shocked at the absolutely horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah today.”
European leaders swiftly reacted to the assassination, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni describing it as “a heinous murder” and “a deep wound for democracy.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed his condolences, noting, “Yesterday, we lost a true defender of faith and freedom.”
