Slovak MP releases pigeon in European Parliament: “Europe needs peace”

A Slovak MEP released a dove into the Parliament’s meeting room on Wednesday to call for peace in Europe and the world. He took out the white dove from a small bag hidden under his jacket.

Source: Reuters, The Guardian

Today at 11:30

Miroslav Radačovský, the leader of the right-wing Slovak Patriot Party, reached into his bag on Wednesday and released a dove into the room, to the astonishment of the MEPs present in Strasbourg. “Europe needs peace,” Radacovsky said after releasing the dove.

But instead of uniting those in attendance, the stunt seemed to scare some in the room. France’s Caroline Roose of the European Greens argued that Radačovský, by using a live animal to make a political point, had broken Parliament’s rules: “Where is animal welfare in this speaker’s gesture? I find this absolutely unacceptable.”

As the bird fluttered around the room, another colleague asked Radačovský: “Can you catch it too?” Jan-Christoph Oetjen, a deputy speaker of Parliament, said the incident would be reported to the speaker of the chamber.