Visitors of the European Parliament: be warned!

Discussions relating to the appropriate dress code have been escalating at the European Parliament, since an incident occurred with a group of 80 visiting Italian students on 18 March.

Posted on Twitpic by TonyRobinson

During this visit, access was refused to the Italians because the young people were all wearing an identical t-shirt carrying the slogan ‘No Mafia – Sicilians against any type of Mafia’ in Italian, English, French and German. Salvatore don Sicilio, the security guard that refused access, explained that the rules of conduct for visitors were quite clear in that political manifestations were not allowed in the building of the European Parliament, nor in front of its immediate entrances.

When the BJ reporters contacted the protocol service, they confirmed this rule but were unable to respond to our more detailed clarification queries.

Amongst these clarifications, we asked if t-shirts with commercial inscriptions or brands were admissible, to which they responded with a positive answer. Where the BJ sensed confusion was when we asked them who would draw the line if a group of visitors came in with t-shirts stating “F* the Italians”: would this be considered a political statement, even if the brand of the company was effectively “F* the Italians”?

An embarassed protocol staff member finally said they would get back at us and we received the following message by email “The slogan you suggested would undoubtedly be admissible as wishing a certain form of sexual gratification to a nation cannot be considered as a political statement. Should the slogan however be accompanied by a graphic depiction, our rules regarding morality of clothing would apply and the t-shirt would have to be removed, unless such removal were to lead to an even more embarassing scene, in which case the removal of the entire person would be requested”.

Visitors to the European Parliament, be warned!