Swedish media distorted brawl at the EU Parliament

At the end of May, a female staffer from the Left Party attacked Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Alice Teodorescu Måwe (Christian Democrats, KD) in the European Parliament. The course of events was confirmed by surveillance cameras and an investigation by the Parliament’s security staff, but was transformed into something entirely different by Swedish media.

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola (pictured), appointed an investigation in which the European Parliament’s security personnel determined that the service woman from the Left Party started and escalated the fight in the parliament. Photo: European Parliament

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, asked Parliament staff to investigate the incident. After speaking with those involved and reviewing surveillance footage, the EU Parliament’s security personnel concluded that the political advisor for the Left Party had “initiated and escalated” the situation.
The preliminary investigation by the EU Parliament led Metsola to condemn the actions of the Left Party’s staffer and decide to review safety measures for MEPs.
“She has asked the administration to investigate what measures are necessary to ensure a safe working environment,” Delphine Colard told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
In Swedish media, the staffer’s attack on Alice Teodorescu Måwe was transformed into something completely different, despite the surveillance footage and the investigation by EU Parliament security staff.
The national news agency TT was the first to report on the incident and framed the main story as the Left Party’s office filing a police report against Alice Teodorescu Måwe (KD). The headline “Alice Teodorescu Måwe reported for assault”and “Alice Teodorescu Måwe facing police report” spread like wildfire through Swedish media websites.
Den nasjonale nyhetsbyrået TT var først ute med å rapportere om hendelsen, og hadde hovednyheten om at Vänsterpartiets kontor hadde levert inn en politianmeldelse mot Alice Teodorescu Måwe (KD). Overskriftene “Alice Teodorescu Måwe anmeldt for vold” og “Alice Teodorescu Måwe politianmeldt” spredte seg dermed som ild i tørt gress via svenske mediers nettsider.

TT’s quote from the Left Party’s office manager, Marie Antman, reinforced the headline:
”It turned out that a Swedish parliamentarian had simply attacked my staff member physically. It’s extremely upsetting.”
Many media outlets published TT’s version before the EU Parliament’s investigation clarified that it was the Left Party staffer who “initiated and escalated” the situation.
Alice Teodorescu Måwe’s (KD) chief of staff, Natalie Tegelberg, told the Brussels-based newspaper Brussels Signal that the MEP was on her way to a meeting when the Left Party’s female political advisor—unknown to her—saw her, took photos, and filmed her without her consent, which triggered a quarrel that led to the scuffle.
– When Teodorescu Måwe asked the person to explain her behavior, the woman said she planned to post the images on social media to “tell the world what a terrible person” Teodorescu Måwe is, said Tegelberg.
– Teodorescu Måwe then asked if it was okay for her to take a photo of the woman, who became aggressive and forcefully tried to take Teodorescu Måwe’s phone from her hand, she continued.
– Alice tried to hold on to her phone, and during the struggle, the staffer began shouting for security guards and made unfounded accusations of assault. Security personnel arrived quickly and calmed the situation, Tegelberg added.

While the Left Party’s staffer disappeared into anonymity, Alice Teodorescu Måwe wrote about the incident on social media the day after the widely noted altercation.
“Yesterday I was assaulted in the European Parliament, at my place of work, by a person I had never met. When I asked why, I understood that it was about my views on Israel and Hamas,” she wrote, continuing:
”Yesterday it became clear to me that the boundary between the autonomous and parliamentary left has practically disappeared. An increasingly polarized tone has laid the foundation for hatred, threats, and dehumanization, creating political intolerance and aggression. Since October 7, I have repeatedly described—in speeches, debates, and articles—how boundaries are being pushed to intimidate journalists, politicians, and academics into silence. How arguments are being replaced by hatred.
As unprovoked as the attack was, I have now been accused of assaulting the person in question. That accusation is false. The European Parliament’s surveillance video, reviewed both initially yesterday and finally this evening by its security department, confirms that the staffer ‘initiated and escalated’ the scuffle. The incident was politically motivated and should therefore be seen as an attack on me in my role as an elected official, on my party, and on democracy itself.”

The Left Party’s leader Nooshi Dadgostar demanded in the media to see the surveillance videos even though the EU Parliament had concluded that the party’s staffer had started and escalated the altercation. But when the EU Parliament offered to show the video, the Left Party did not show up.
Only much later, and accompanied by a lawyer hired to defend the staffer, did the party agree to view the footage. The lawyer, unsurprisingly, came to a completely opposite conclusion than the EU Parliament’s security staff.
TT’s editorial director, Vicktor Olsson, declined to answer how they verify the background of police reports that the newsroom receives via tips or press releases.
– That a political staffer files a police report against an MEP for assault is news regardless of the party affiliation of those involved. The sequence of events, background, and context are things we work on continuously. That was also the case here, he said.